The 200 best players in the world: Foreword

Football journalist Gabriel Marcotti (one of the best it should be said) made this rather unfortunate list back in 2007. It's not as good as mine will be of course :) and much shorter, settling on "just" 50 players.

But I did like his introduction and agree with most of it and it seems relevant to my list as well:

When my editor suggested putting together a list of the top 50 players, I greeted it with a healthy dose of apprehension. For journalists, such lists are often a lose-lose proposition, exposing you to ridicule and, occasionally, venom. Then again, they do generate debate and I like open-ended discussions as much as the next guy.

But before we get into it, here are the usual caveats. Making comparisons between different positions on the pitch is extremely difficult. Equally, while I do watch a lot of football (far more than is healthy), I haven’t watched most of these players week in, week out, for all ninety minutes. Then again, nobody has. So what you’re getting is a combination of personal assessment and, perhaps more importantly, the distilled views of people I talk to, from scouts to fellow journalists, from agents to managers, from club officials to, yes, ordinary fans.

I couldn’t even have begun to compile such a list without basic criteria. So here they are: imagine you are the manager of a totally new team. You have a certain budget to spend, but first you get one freebie, one guy to build your team around. You get him only for one season, the 2007-08 campaign, so you want to go for who can do the best job for you here and now, without worrying how good he can be down the line. Who would you choose? Who would your “ringer” be? Have a look at all at my selection and then post yours in the comment box below.

AND now here are my thoughts before my list:

Well first of all I didn't want the list to get this big. With a list this deep there is a real danger of maybe hundreds of players left out who will have a decent case of should have been included, over certainly some of the lower ranked players who actually were.
Instances where there may not be all that much difference in talent.

But what I quickly found out when shortlisting players, were the staggering amount of excellent players out there.
Exactly you could say like it should be with the most global sport of all, the talent pool appears insanely deep and tons of very good players, some big stars, had to be left out.

A top 50 or top 100 I think would just have excluded too many players who really when I think about it are among the best I've ever seen, and quite frankly that would suck!

Also, more than concluding that the 31st ranked player in the world definitively is better than whoever ranked 35th, this really is more of an excuse just to put some thoughts down, on all these great players, so please don't go berserk if your darling favorite is ranked below someone you really thought was terrible.
First of all, very likely, he isn't terrible, and second separating these players, especially across the different positions, is very very hard sometimes (some are just so so close that one or two places between them really don't mean much either) and of course highly subjective.

Also speaking of subjective I do have tendency to kind of sometimes rank according to what would be the more interesting, the more (in my mind) thought provoking if you will, so that's kind of the x-factor happening here.

All right, another factor is my intention of this list very much being who are the best players at the moment.

Therefore more than a year ago won't matter much if there has been a significant drop in quality since, and if a young player at this very moment is judged by me to be at a very high level, he won't get punished too hard for not having proved himself over time other than whatever great potential he may possess not being a deciding factor either.

And finally some positions will be (much) less common than others.

I have to say that especially trying to compare goalkeepers to the others was troublesome and I wonder if it's not really pointless. But I have included some and left out a lot. (UPDATE: Since writing this elsewhere I have decided to REMOVE GOALKEEPERS ENTIRELY. Feel free to make a best goalkeeper list. I might make one too!

There are also not that many defenders!
Especially central defenders who for their team compared to the other "outfield" positions generally have more limited roles. A job to defend so to speak. I think it could even argued, if still splitting up defending and attacking, that the evolving ball-playing defenders (who I will look more favorable at on the list),  in theory play-ball so to speak as part at least in-direct defending or simply preventing attack.

Now it's been somewhat fashionable to criticize football player awarding almost exlusively benefiting the attacking players, and I used to do it too, after all defending arguably is just as important as attacking, and while when broken down centrebacks generally speaking don't compare favorably to most other outfield players, they can still be as valuable (and sometimes more of course) on any team, the thing is though that defending is something very much (increasingly for many years now) done by the team as a whole and not really "just" by individual central defenders standing all tall and brave through adversity.
It may look that way sometimes sure, but fact is that even the very best defenders in the world will come up short if isolated against good attacking talent.
They need help!
And they get it, from almost the entire team very often, dropping behind the ball or applying to various degrees high ball-pressure, narrowing space, defending their zones. You name it, a good defensive team, do it (as a unit)!

If enough of that defensive play isn't working very well, even the best defender at the time, and according to FIFA the best player even, Fabio Cannavaro, is someone we've seen can go from looking his usual dominant self on a well balanced Italian World Cup winning team, to quite amateurish for his club team, Real Madrid, where exactly the defensive side of the game often wasn't very good.

Simply, if the team doesn't defend well, likely not even the best defender will have a great positive impact, not even at what they do best.
Instead I think there is a very large number of good central defenders out there who on a team that defends well could do a fully adequate job without much of a drop in a quality, and of course that has some value too, but replace an elite forward or midfielder like Messi or Xavi with a say number 25,35 to 65 player at their position and you'd see a real negative impact and a team definitely less capable.
So even though I definitely admire excellent defending and think there are a lot of defenders capable of it, I just don't see them adding individually the same value to their teams as some of the great players in other positions do.
Therefore not THAT many central defenders (ranked very high) on this list. It's not say they're not as important, like goalkeepers and their thin margin for error, they're extremely important, but in this context comparing technical, physical and tactical/mental performance generally speaking they will come up short against the best midfielders and attackers.

Interestingly though I had a whole bunch loosely ranked around the 250ish area but in the end only defenders doing their job extraordinarily and thereby adding real value to their team will have made the list.

Titus Bramble My apologies.

Brief update

A follow up to the season so far focusing on teams from Spain and Italy is in on the way but I want to wait until after the midweek games from Serie A, where especially tonight's game between early front runners Sampdoria, and struggling to find their way, though heavily enforced, Juventus, looks very interesting.

In the meantime I'm working on something as simple as a list! Quite simply a list of the best players in the world. Ranked and everything, according to me naturally.
I'm not sure yet if it will be top 50, 100 or maybe even go deeper than that, but I think once I'm done (putting them in order is the hard part) that it will be something than can help make me update this blog more often.
Instead of huge previews or resumes, just throw an installment (countdown style) of the best players in the world out there and talk about them! Sounds easy enough. I think I can do it (I've ranked 95 players so far)!

The season so far. Part 1: The big 4 or 5

Time to take an in depth look at what I've watched so far of football this season.

After the very very time consuming Serie A preview I don't think it' a bad idea to start somwhere else entirely. So let's start in Engerland (england engerland)!

Top of the table we find Chelsea who is off to an impressive start.
I already wrote quite a bit about Chelsea after the first few games I watched them play this season and I think it's safe to say they've improved some since then.

In those entries I was quite critical at what I saw as some flaws that could prevent what is an excellent opportunity this year to win the title.
Much of that was some bad often slow passing distribution in central midfield when Mikel was playing the "bottom" of the Ancelotti diamond, and that resulting in the team having more difficulty than they should defending width.
Even against a team like Hull. Against Manchester United in the Charity Shield it's more understandable.

But since then it's mainly been the excellent Essien playing that role and the passing game has been quite fluent and more direct.
The ball gets to the opponent's penalty area mostly with relative ease and that's where I think Chelsea with a number of the players they have are a more dangerous team than possibly anyone in the world.
Quite simply if they consistently get the ball up there, either through someone in the diamond making a run forward, Drogba going a little back irresistibly seeking the ball or through their great fullbacks, they're very hard to stop and in the Premier League it's difficult to see who should actually.

And even when/if the notorious slow Mikel is in midfield (and he is a great physical talent who should get playing time) Ancelotti can still put someone like Deco at the top of the diamond and ensure quality distribution that way. Lampard and Ballack given certain roles can make quality contributions there as well though with a price to pay when it comes to their consistent excellent play in the final third.
A price that Hiddink for an example interestingly enough was willing to pay in some of his use of Ballack.

Now I will still maintain that Ancelotti's team is more vulnerable defensively than what we saw under Mourinho and also when Hiddink had them organized very well towards the end of last season, but the EPL is overall still by large (even with some recent examples and trends signalling some change) a league where it isn't "just" the most well balanced team that ends up winning but a great dominating attack too.

Yeah they give away quite a few quality chances these days but they're creating themselves in abundance and as long as that all important distribution to the final third is working smoothly that will continue, and they'll be a decent favorite over their on paper weaker this season, top four rivals.

Two of those rivals faced each other in one of the more interesting games of the EPL season so far.
Manchester United against Arsenal.

Unfortunately for Arsenal in that game they were missing Fabregas who isn't just their best player but one who much of the play is build around and the only one who can take it to a level high enough where the team can be consistently successful. Without him it's just a different team. Interesting then that if you compare to how they looked against United in some of the games last season, that they looked quite a bit better here.
One clear plus for Arsenal here that they didn't have when they faced eachother in the Champions League and United proved clearly the better team, was the addition of Arshavin who is an elite attacking talent, but alot of it, sadly for fans of the gunners, I'd definitely put down to what it was that United was missing compared to those games last year.
More on that later when we get to Manchester United.

It's positive though for Arsenal that their central midfielders weren't outworked and outrun like they were in some of those games last year and I think both Denilson and Song have shown improvements in their play this season.
Diaby too, eventhough he had his own personal disaster in this particular game looks like a better player than last year.
Something of course which simply is a must for a club like Arsenal heavily counting on young talent. They have to live up to their upside or it's just a waste.

In a way Arsenal have been unlucky or if you're a more mean spirited person you could say simply inadequate for not having more depth. Either way in their two toughest games of the season against the two Manchester teams they've been without first Fabregas against United and then Arshavin against City.

Personally I thought it was a real lack of flexibility to continue with the 4-3-3 against City if the two wide forwards were going to be Diaby and Bendtner.
That's bordering on simply ignoring your player's characteristics over the system. Conventional coaching wisdom would say that it's the players and their characteristics dictating what system to play and not the system the players.
It's nothing new of course, to do it like Wenger did this game. Countless of coaches have done the same and for one match only I'm sure there can be found arguments not to change things around.
Still, as the match showed. As a look at the City team sheet SHOULD show. This was a match against a world class opponent where things had to be optimal. BOTH Diaby and Bendtner on the wings in a 4-3-3 is hardly optimal.
And whether it was there specifically the match was lost or not, the result was City being the overall better balanced team on the day. That showed. On a more positive note, individually in central defense William Gallas and Thomas Vermaelen are playing great, so right there is all the foundation Arsenal need for an excellent central defense partnership.

Overall they "just" need the team to be more consistently well balanced. When Fabregas and Arshavin are both there. When the players for an effective 4-3-3 are all in place, there are few problems and they're a very effective team who can steamroll lesser teams and look great while doing it. On the surface, the greatest outside mighty FC Barcelona even.
Not least it has to be said, since it's a pet peeve of mine, against annoying teams like Wigan who face the big teams well bend over before the game has even begun with their terrible naive tactics.
But all in all like I talked about in an earlier entry on Arsenal I think a version of the 4-3-3 over previous years 4-4-2 IS definitely the right step when trying to create a consistently effective attack and the more they can look for inspiration at Barcelona, and what they've been doing so great, the better too.
Some might say it's bordering on crazy talk but I'd maintain that Arsenal is the only team with a chance to get close to that. And considering just getting close is enough to better almost anyone, it's certainly something that's worth a shot.
The system change was the obvious step one but let's not forget the pieces already in place.
Starting with Fabregas they have the closest thing to Xavi there is. Someone who even does some things better and who is a must for a team aspiring for overwhelming possession against their opponents.
Without a Xavi or Fabregas type of player it just has no chance of being effective with how good team defending has become.Arsenal also arguably have the poor man's Messi in Arshavin. They share quite a few characteristics and it could even be argued, though I think there is a significant gap there, that they have a poor man's Iniesta in someone like Samir Nasri.
They even have a striker in Bendtner who can do the needed non-traditional decent job on one of the wings.
Where it then really falls apart is if someone like Diaby plays there. That is just very un-Barcelona like.

That brings me to the striker. Robbie Van Persie who suprisingly, it seems doesn't see a whole lot of criticism or face many questionmarks.
People love his speed and technique. And that's understandable but let me try and throw in what's not so great if you set the bar very high which it should be for a team trying to beat what at the top of the table are still the toughest league competition in the world.
And if you compare what he is doing to the kind of things that a Samuel Eto'o and now Zlatan Ibrahimovic does for Barcelona. The kind of things that Arsenal would need as well, from their lone central striker in a possession based 4-3-3.

I really question if Van Persie has the physical attributes to be really effective there when it isn't play in transition.
And if he doesn't then it's something that even affects him negatively when it comes to his actual strenghts. Like say, combining nicely with Fabregas or Arshavin and using his acceleration to feed off that. But when playing in the center often in narrow space and no real holes to accelerate into, the physical strenght is needed to even get to that, so to speak.

To his credit, even if I think he has a negative attitude sometimes, he has started to do more traditional striker kind of work, including better movement without the ball, which is essential when not an overly powerful striker, but when playing central on top it's just not quite there yet at a high enough level.
A lot of that I think would be helped and maybe even turned into a strenght if there was more switching positions in the forward line. Not just with Bendtner who can be more a traditional lone center forward but with Arshavin too.
Again the inspiration being Barcelona where Messi is often wildly effective switching with the striker and spending some time central and on top. Van Persie is more dangerous too when he isn't restricted to near the central defenders just outside or just inside the box.

Of course, one very obvious positive I found when I first saw the new Arsenal 4-3-3 with Van Persie playing central instead of Bendtner was that it simply made sense to have Van Persie getting all the good scoring chances Arsenal usually create instead of someone like Bendtner who whether it's fair or not has become quite infamous for some poor finishing.
Van Persie being there instead, that SHOULD mean more goals coming from there! RIGHT?

It's not like Van Persie isn't getting shots at goal either. I heard of one stat (I can't find it myself) that the announcer here mentioned the last time I watched Arsenal, where Van Persie was the player with the most shots on goal out of everyone in the league.

So i ask, with just one goal so far isn't Van Persie that much a superiour finisher anyway, OR is he just not getting the really good, the realistic scoring chances?

Either way, it's obviously a problem and I call for more flexibility in the forward line to try and solve it!

Manchester United have rebounded nicely from their early shock defeat against Burnley.

That very flukish defeat actually lead some doubters going way too far, and on the usually entertaining Guardian Football Weekly podcast one of the contributors (unfortunately I don't remember who it was exactly) even forecasted that United wouldn't finish in the top 4! That's either very bold or very silly more likely.

Like with Arsenal I refuse to hand out too much credit for beating stupid Wigan, but while ignoring the controversy, as someone who usually root against United I was very annoyed too, what I can do is give them credit for the second half against City.
It was classic Ferguson Manchester United play with great wing play and fullbacks pushing forward exactly where it hurt the most.
For Manchester City that was the right side with Wright Phillips and Micah Richards who were nothing short of fully exposed by the excellent Evra pushing Phillips way way back where he wasn't comfortable and Giggs being up to his old tricks against Richards, who judging by this might still best fulfill his potential as a central defender instead.While watching I was suprised that Hughes waited and waited without doing any adjustments whatsoever while United had clearly taken over the game creating tons of dangerous situations.
He had flirted with danger in some earlier games too where opponents also too easily created chances but at least there the City forwards were being very dangerous themselves. Despite their goals that wasn't really the case for most of the second half. This was a team dominating them and Hughes failed to come up with or try even, anything.

Overall with Manchester United the only thing I'm quite sure of is that they're weaker this season than the last couple of years. The reasons for that are pretty obvious. Not only have elite players gone and not really been replaced but with them various tactical options too.
To me the Tevez- C. Ronaldo - Rooney forward line looked pretty unstoppable and down through the chains it ensured an incredibly well balanced team who both attacked, not least on the counter, but starting with Rooney and Tevez defended really well too.

Rooney I think is a top 3 player in the world. Maybe even the second best after Messi. The good news for United is that he is still around. With him there is hope. But put him with an amazing attacking talent in C. Ronaldo and a player like Tevez who to a lesser extent does some of the same things both ways that Rooney does, and you have not just hope of great results, but certainty.

As a very non United fan I don't even like to think about it, but consider how close they were to winning both their very tough league and the Champions League two years in a row.
Think about what a great job of team defending Chelsea did on Barcelona in the semis. A job so good that I think most of the time it knocks that Barcelona side out. Then think about how Manchester United throughout the season had been the best defensive team. Better than Chelsea.
Consider the speed and counter attack options they had up front that Chelsea did not.

This is a post I wrote on a sports forum before the final:

United does have great individual talent defensively but from watching Barca so much this year I really think that any team not defending as a TEAM, on a scale similar to what Chelsea did, will be an underdog. You just cannot leave them space.
Hiddink is not exactly known for playing that defensive, ever, yet this was the one time where he felt it was a must. That alone says alot.

Now ignoring the question of whether they will actually go for it or not, I think United certainly could come close to do a similar great job of TEAM defending to what Chelsea did, they certainly did well the last time they faced eachother, Barca have of course improved since then, and if they combine that with their "deadliest" transition game in the world, THEN I think they'll be favorites.

But I don't think any team not heavily geared towards defending, is a favorite to resist Barca's talent when that talent almost inevitably will have 55+ pct of possession.

Did Ferguson for once get it wrong? If he has commented on it since, I'd love to see it.What I do know is that the Tevez-C.Ronaldo-Rooney forward line didn't start and what I kinda wanted to say I guess by going back to all of this, was just how freakish good this Manchester United team were and how very close they were to become one of the best teams in history.
Something Barcelona then took from them and might very well improve upon even, this season if, they repeat.

Like I said, this season, Manchester United, I don't see them as any potential best team in history or anything like that, they do however have the best two-way player in the world, Wayne Rooney to build around, a manager who knows how to win the Premier League like no one else, and last but not least some of the rivals DO look weaker too.

There is definitely hope for Manchester United.

For Manchester City, overall I'm not sure if teamwise I have that much to add from even the last time they came up on this blog when they beat Blackburn.

Playerwise I fully expected Adebayor to score lots of goals. I tipped some people to bet on him as a topscorer even, since I thought he was at worst a top 5 favorite while the bookmakers had him quite a bit further down. Even behind Michael Owen comically enough.

A positive suprise has been Craig Bellamy who isn't just scoring but working very hard a lot of places on the pitch.

And in midfield I like Nigel De Jong who adds some balance to the side. That will be very needed when someone like Robinho is back in the lineup.

Finally in "engerland" even if we may want to we can't forget about lovely little Liverpool.

This was a team who through preseason as I watched questionmarks creeping up on virtually all the other top four sides that I was starting to lean towards making my pick for the title.

Even if, and I know some people are convinced that was the case, Liverpool did indeed run good last season with some rather fortunate results along the way, I liked how under Benitez from year to year there were clear signs of improvement.

Every year under Benitez the goals against had been around the same number. 25, 27,28 and then 27 last season. But at the same time the goals scored had been going up every single year, from 57 and 57 to 67 and last season a league best 77 goals scored.

For a team and a coach who rarely compromises defensive stability in favour of the attacking side of things, for them to get to a point where they improve what mostly has been described as a key problem holding them back, to a league leading best, I thought that was quite a dramatic sign. A very positive sign.

Enter evil evil Real Madrid and them stealing key central midfielder Xabi Alonso.
Always a good technical player, under Benitez, Alonso's physical tools and tactical awareness had improved to such a point where he was becoming one of the best central midfielders in the world and certainly with another one of those, the superb Mascherano, made up one of the best central midfield tandems around.

A tandem that not only ensured Steven Gerrard could play his best in front of them behind Torres, but who made the defensive four look good to. Made their job easier.
And in the case of someone like Jamie Carragher, who's been struggling quite a bit this season, probably a whole lot easier.

Trying to fill his shoes has been young brazilian midfielder Lucas. I think the jury is still out of him and the first indication of him doing a sufficient job will be when the Liverpool defense starts looking consistently balanced again.
So far Carragher has been on his heels way too much and even the normaly excellent Mascherano has at times struggled with the same defensive duties where he normaly has thrived. Not good signs.

Alberto Aquilani who they bought from Roma is yet to play this season. He has been a great talent for many years but has been held back by a lot injuries.
At his best he'll likely have even more to offer forward than someone like Alonso and if Benitez like I think he will, it's what he did with Alonso and others, will have him improve his physical ability and defensive play, we could, barring injuries, see a truly great player sometime in the future.

Elsewhere Liverpool has perhaps the best pure striker in the world in Fernando Torres, a great mainly attacking midfielder in Steven Gerrard and a very good two-way player in Dirk Kuyt.

Like Manchester United, Liverpool have hope.


I hope to have a part II focusing on Italy and Spain a little later.

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.

Weekend football

So I'm currently finishing the Serie A preview.

I have just done Parma, Roma and Sampdoria which means only three teams to go!

Finally.

I have of course also watched some football and will do so tomorrow as well.

The plan is to post thoughts about, if not all, then definitely some of the games I've been watching. Whether that will start late sunday after everything is done or maybe monday, I'm not sure about yet. We shall see.

But games watched (and thereby candidates for discussion) so far are:

Chelsea-Burnley

Some of Liverpool - Bolton

Some of Tottenham - Birmingham

Manchester United - Arsenal

Some of Real Madrid - Deportivo La Coruna

And finally Inter's demolition of AC Milan in the Milan derby.

Serie A 2009/10 preview part V

It continues (still in alphabetical order) and not just with one team this time.

LAZIO:

Just when this team on paper was starting to shape up rather nicely again, highlighted by a Coppa Italia win last season, conflict arrives and there is currently a situation where three (good) players are left out of the squad because of dispute.
De Silvestri, plus recent key players Pandev and Ledesma are all currently left out of the squad and every day it seems there are rumors of them being signed by other teams.

Probably most important though is the one who IS staying. Star forward Mauro Zarate's status was made permanent when Lazio managed to raise the €25 million needed to secure him.
If Zarate has been consistent enough to justify a price such as that I'm not so sure of, but when he was good he was often magical, and probably key in this thing, better than anything Lazio has had for quite some time and better than anything else realistically they'd have any hope of signing in the near future.
So all in all, well done to Lazio for securing him.

With his number one partner in crime when it comes to attacking contributions, Pandev, for the time being out, the door should now be wide open for great technician Pasquale Foggia to really make his mark for the club.
If he can do that the door might also open up further for the national team where he could bring some flair to primarely the wings.

Elsewhere things are a lot less spectacular. Sturdy striker Tommasi Rocchi is for the time being the captain up front and on midfield you find solid (but not getting any better) veterans such as Dabo, Baronio and Cristian Brocchi.

There is also Stefano Mauri, Matuzalem and Meghni who on their day have more to offer forward but even with the best of the lot there, Ledesma in, you feel this is a midfield who's job it should be, to lay a balanced foundation so the skilled players up front's focus can be 100 percent on the attacking side of things.

In the back-four Rozenhal has left for Hamburg and most interesting will be who wins the left-back starting job of Kolarov and romanian Radu who has impressed a lot of people whenever he has played.

Worth watching: Stephan Lichtsteiner: A product of the, in recent years, great Swiss talent development, he is rapidly establishing himself as one of the best right-backs in the league contributing nicely to the attack.
In fact, his constant running up and down the flank has earned him the nickhame Forrest Gump!


LIVORNO:

Up from Serie B we have the team who very much unlike Lazio are known for their left-wing supporters.
And also back is their number one working class hero and Livorno legend, veteran striker Cristiano Lucarelli.
Wearing number 99 on his jersey as a homage to 1999 founded left-wing ultras group Brigate Autonome Livornesi, BAL, Lucarelli born and bred in a notorius Livorno housing project, first came to prominence when he at a U-21 national team game being played in Livorno, celebrated a goal by ripping off his shirt revealing underneath another one with the familiar picture print of Che Guevara.
The Livorno fans went crazy and has loved him ever since but elsewhere and in the press he was heavily criticised.
It's been speculated how much damage was done already then to his future with the national team where he to this day is stuck at just one cap. I really don't know.

But further endearing him to the Livorno fans was when he at the height of his career, despite his agent's wishes took a paycut, rejected more lucrative offers and basically forced a move away from Torino to join Livorno now on the rise after 50 years in the lower leagues.

With Lucarelli on board now finally in Serie A they actually did well. In the midst of among others, chaotic coaching reigns from Roberto Donadoni the club achieved league finishes of 8, 6 and 11.
Lucarelli also had a lot of personal success netting plenty of goals and even finishing as league top scorer in 2005.

With Livorno president Aldo Spinelli conflict and tension is never far away though. There have been various small matters such as a match fixing scandal and when it comes to coaches he hasn't exactly been the most easy guy to have as boss.
Always very superstitious in fear of a bad run, Spinelli with one round left to play of last season following a defeat, sacked coach Leonardo Acori eventhough the team was still sitting comfortably in third place and was secured a playoff spot.

New coach Gennaro Ruotola immediatly endeared himself to the supporters not just by winning promotion but by declaring a democratic revolution as well, which is the kind of language that's still sweet music to the Livorno tifosi.

A few years earlier with another conflict with another manager, Spinelli also had a fall out with Lucarelli who was then sold to Shaktar Donetsk and last year played for Parma.

Now he is back though and Spinelli may not be. Following the promotion last season he had these words:

"Football is cruel and for this reason I would like to leave the presidency to my son.

"This has been too tough a year for me, what with a massacre of a play-off run. I hope my son accepts,".

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Worth watching: Alessandro Diamanti: But where?

Unfortunately for Livorno fans the passionate and talented star on their team for the last few years seems to be on his way out with the club also more than willing to cash in on him.
Gianfranco Zola at West Ham is one fan and as I'm writing this, the Hammers look like a likely destination.

Diamanti according to himself has wasted far too many years in the lower leagues and when you look at his play at least in the last couple of years you have to agree.
A skilled technical player he creates goals for both teammates and himself. From open play as well as on set-pieces.

Last season the main beneficiari from that was former Valencia failure Francesco Tavano who finally had a good year again, and it will be interesting to see how he and others will do up front, IF without Diamanti.
Against tougher competition less well is definitely the more likely, but at least with Lucarelli now back at the club some other options presents itself, since he can still be a good target-man.


NAPOLI:

Roberto Donadoni's current destination with their huge loyal fan support are very ambitious and will look for drastic improvement from last year, where they following a promising start slumped to a 12th place finish.

That meant the dismissal of Edy Reja who had led the team all the way back from Serie C1, which could be argued was somewhat of a cruel fate.

However I do think it's arguable that his rather dated 3-5-2 system wasn't stable enough at the highest level and that change was needed to have a realistic chance of this team reaching the top.

Now whether his replacement Roberto Donadoni is the right kind of change only time will tell, shockingly he is yet to really abandon the 3-5-2, and of course time may very well turn out to be very limited when both demanding fans and a crazy president (yes another one) Aurelio De Laurentis, all expect rapid improvement.
When it comes to the players at least, improvement looks more certain.

They've held on to all of their key players and have used a considerable amount of money to attract players such as Luca Cigarini who is one Italy's most talented midfielders, proven striker Fabio Quagliarella, goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis and one of the real breakthrough right-backs of last season, Columbian Juan Zuniga.

At least in the 3-5-2, defensively in the back things are the same, and realistically only further improvement from the promising Fabio Santacroce can make things better there.
He was already an important player last season where the team went from conceding 53 to 45, but the needed 10 goals or so improvement from that, to reach the very top, is just hard to imagine being produced by a three-man-backline.

The midfield has a lot of talent. Marek Hamsik's splendid two-way play is now joined by Cigarini who has a really good deep pass as well that should benefit the pace upfront, and with the rest of the bunch there is a nice mixture of steel and finesse not least from Uruguayan international Walter Gargano who Napoli really missed when he went down with a foot injury last season.

The real challenge is of course to get that mixture just right and with talented wingbacks galore plus all-round types of central midfielders, what is the best non-3-5-2 lineup even?

Up front Argentinian wizard Lavezzi and reliable Quagliarella can easily be part of a flexible three forward line that would help a four man midfield some, but that means a key role for so far not that impressive striker Denis, and that might not be worth it either.

I would think the most logical thing would be Donadoni's own 4-3-1-2 system. With Hamsik behind Lavezzi and Quagliarella, plus a three man midfield including Cigarini with the rest of the spots up for grabs.
To me that system looks good enough both ways with the squad players Napoli have. But if Donadoni really is still using the 3-5-2 it must be because he thinks the player material continues to be better suited for that, and that with the reinforcements now in place he can do better with it than Reja did.

The problem I see is that expectations are not just to be somewhat better, but A WHOLE LOT BETTER, and that I seriously doubt can come from a 3-5-2 formation.

Worth watching:Ezequel Lavezzi: For real or one of those overrated youtube sensations?
Build a lot like Carlos Tevez he doesn't have the same strenght and stamina but tons of skills and pace.
Great pace with the ball too.
Surrounded by better talent this year he should be even better.
Watch this season for hopefully better passing, consistency and decisionmaking and Napoli have themselves an elite player.

PALERMO:

The Zenga/Zamparini/craziest coach/craziest president constellation looks to be an interesting one and it should be enjoyed while it lasts.

Zenga's coaching exploits have already been touched upon in the Catania section of these previews. And you can add to it his recent declaration that Palermo will challenge for the championship.

President Zamparini, besides his outbursts to the media, is best known for his legendary impatience when it comes to coaches. To such an extent where you have to wonder if Zenga's title challenge prediction is some kind of advanced reverse psychology plot to do what no one else employed by Zamparini have done, and actually remain in the job for a bit.
Zamparini since his entrance into football in 1987 has sacked 26 coaches!

There is hope however cause a recent trend developing with him is rehiring coaches he has previously dismissed.
Most famously current Parma coach Franceso Guidolin who on 4 different occasions have been sacked only to later be rehired by Zamparini.
The last time Guidolin was sacked in 2008 the man he replaced, Stefano Colantuono was then rehired, only of course to have Zamparini sack him after just one game into the next season.
HIS replacement Ballardini, now at Lazio, went on to lead the team to a good 8th place finish last year but was still let go by Zamparini. And with that enter current coach Walter Zenga.

Overall I would say that even if the team isn't good enough to challenge for a Scudetto this is still a good team.

Up front Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani has kept improving and now forms a very nice little and large striker partnership with more experienced, but still with a lot to offer, Fabrizio Miccoli.

Behind them especially leader Fabio Liverani has been doing a good job in midfield for years.

Look for him to be defensively complemented by experienced Noceroni and on the more attacking side of things by brazilian Fabio Simplico who had a good enough last season to attract at least whispers of attention from bigger clubs.

There is also aussie-italian Mark Bresciano who is a nice versatile player to have.

But to have this team reach for the top, the hype of especially one player needs to hold water:In what could turn out to be a massive coup it was Palermo who secured the signature of young Argentine, Javier Pastore.

On Pastore, from this Guardian article by Joel Richards:

He is light years ahead of his nearest competitor in the 'Lyrical Ranking' – a weekly tribute to the showboaters among Argentina's top flight footballers.
Sports daily Olé's readers recently voted him the best player of the season, while Clarín's journalists rate him as the second top performer of the season. Some 680,292 mangers have him in their fantasy football teams. Manchester United are reported to have tabled a £8.8m bid, which he turned down. Milan and Lazio are also interested. He's the son every madre wants after he ran over to kiss his mum through the fencing to celebrate a goal. He's the boyfriend that every señorita wants thanks to his boyish good looks. Huracán's 19-year-old midfielder, Javier Pastore, is creating quite a stir in Argentina.

Just over a week ago, he single-handedly demolished River Plate with two goals and an assist in his side's 4-0 win over the millonarios. Many thought Pastore had played his best game of the season. Then last Saturday night he scored two more against Rosario Central, and was inches away from his first top flight hat-trick when his shot cannoned off the crossbar. With seven goals from midfield this season, he is his club's top scorer.

In the back Palermo has lost Carrozzieri due to his suspension for cocaine use.

Instead, in have come Romanian international Dorin Goian who is far from a downgrade at all in my view and when I've seen him play from Romania has been very good.
Add to that the defensive duo of last season consisting of experienced Cesare Bovo and very talented Simon Kjaer and Palermo could have one of the best central defenses in the league.

Worth watching: Zamparini and Zenga:
Too many players have been called the new Maradona way too early. Though technically I think Pastore actually mainly has been called the new Messi! But anyway while certainly an eye should be kept on Pastore, he could still have some way to go yet, and in the meantime more interesting will be if Zenga's reverse psychology will pay dividends and if he will actually be given the time needed to make his mark on Palermo by Zamparini, or if this constellation is just a massive blowup waiting to happen. If so then at least we'll watch it when it does.


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And with that only Parma, Roma, Sampdoria, Siena and Udinese to go in one final entry that should be up long before the games next weekend!

Serie A 2009/10 preview part IV (Juventus)

JUVENTUS:

For the first time since rejoining Serie A Juventus has a realistic chance of the scudetto.

But a lot of things have to go right and very things wrong.

The transfer campaign has been promising. Brazilian star playmaker Diego has joined and he instantly becomes one of the best players in the league.

One who was that last year was his compatriot Felipe Melo. Joining from Fiorentina he is a great physical talent with a smooth passing game who with his arrival potentially makes a full strenght Juventus midfield the strongest in the league.
In the back Fabio Cannavaro is back from Real Madrid. Even if he won't be great anymore (from accounts I've read he actually WAS in his debut last night) he should still be able to form one of the better partnerships around with Giorgio Chiellini.

Also brought in from Barcelona is versatile defender Martin Caceres, but it's unclear how much playing time he will recieve. Personally I would think he should get a chance to prove himself as a fullback while at the same time be a good fourth option for the central defense behind Legrottaglie.

The fullback positions is once again where a lot of Juventus fans place their worries.

On the right side Grygera can still make good contributions forward but defensively there is always a mistake just waiting to happen it seems.
Zebina also has some talent going forward but has lost some pace and is often injured. He is definitely not a number one option for a team searching for greatness. Let's just say that.

On the left we have everyone's favorite Cristian Molinaro. The good thing is that you always know what you're gonna get with Molinaro. The bad thing is that it's never really good.
He just isn't particulary talented and what he does best he does just okay, and especially against good teams he can really fall through.
Unless it's on backup salary his recent 5 year contract extension is a little strange.

His main rival for the job is young leftsided player Paolo De Ceglie.
I suppose out of desperation to see someone, anyone, else than Molinaro play, a lot of Juventus fans really wants De Ceglie to succeed.
I think certainly forward he has a lot more potential than Molinaro but as a defender and even technically, like his passing skills, he still has some ways to go before being a starter on a top team.
His stamina, at least when in a 4-4-2 last year where he had to cover large distances also seemed lacking.

In the first game yesterday Ferrara actualy went with versatile veteran Salihamidzic there. Not exactly a vote of confidence.

So there is no doubt the fullbacks are a weakness. The question is just how much influence they'll have in new coach Ciro Ferrara's more flexible systems compared to Ranieri's 4-4-2 where fullbacks played quite a significant role providing in width.
Certainly in Ferrara's recent 4-3-1-2 a key challenge is defending the flanks and that alone could mean seeing less of the fullbacks going forward.
That then raises the question of the attacking width.

Three of the four striker options all have their main strenghts in the penalty area, so taking out crossing would not seem logical.

On the left undoubtedly the most talented performer is the "atomic ant" Sebastian Giovinco.
Very small in stature he is one of the most exciting attacking talents in the world. Few are faster with the ball at their feet and his low center of gravity makes him quite a nightmare to deal with.
On top of that he has dynamite in his boots resulting in great crosses and explosive shots on goal.
But where to play him?
It's hard to see him on a three-man midfield having to do a lot of two-way play and of course Diego occupy the attacking midfielder spot behind the strikers.

One option would be two defensive midfielders + Diego and then a three forward line up front where Giovinco theoretically could take a place on either side.

Another option would simply be the role I'm sure we'll see Del Piero play a lot. Alongside one of the big strikers and mainly operating from the left, still with Diego behind.
I think Del Piero still has a lot to offer from there. In and around the penalty area from where he can really make use of his magic right foot, but I really hope whenever he isn't a 100 percent, and at his age that's far from all the time, that Giovinco will be the one replacing him most of the time.
If he can be first choice backup for both Diego and Del Piero, and Alex won't automatically still play when he is 80 percent or whatever, then maybe just maybe, there is a chance he'll get the games his talent definitely deserves.

On the right side there are even less options and if fullbacks are going to participate anywhere I guess it's there.
Of midfielders, there really only is Camoranesi to provide any quality width from there and in some ways he is facing the same obstacles Giovinco is on the left.
They're different though and unlike Giovinco it's not that hard to imagine Camoranesi, if in top condition, take a right-central midfielder spot on a three man midfield.

No the real strength of this team looks to be central: Diego with great passing and dribbling ability.
Melo's secure passing and strong tackling and then young Italian midfielder Marchisio, something of everything. With an upside.

Then there is also perhaps the best Juventus player last season
Mohamed Sissoko. While still not a good passer, he has supreme physical tools that makes him a really good two-way player. Whether it's crushing tackles while doing defensive work or being an immovable object while making Patrik Vieira style powerful runs forward.
He has had some injury problems recently but if you're into powerful physical midfield displays, watching him and Melo eventually playing together on the Juventus midfield should be great to watch.

Christian Poulsen, despite attempts to force him out is also still with the team.
He's been one of the better defensive midfielders in Europe for teams such as Schalke and especially Sevilla. And last season he really wasn't any worse. And certainly not as bad as popular opinion will have you believe, but on a club with lofty ambitions used to always winning but just not good enough to do so yet again, he was seen as such.
Personally I like the depth that Poulsen provides. And even if Cristiano Zanetti did a lot of good for Juve in what were tough times, Poulsen is the younger and stronger. Health is a skill too.

Up front Amauri and Iaquinta have quite a lot in common. Including at this point being better strikers than David Trezeguet (for more on that see my "more football entry" on the Berlusconi Tropy game) but how much I like seeing them both play together at the same time with Diego, I'm not really sure.
I think I prefer one of Del Piero/Giovinco getting playing time in a second-striker role together with just one of them, instead of seeing them both kind of do the same things.
Like hinted earlier I'm not sure there is enough crossing for both of them either, and there will also be situations where it's one of them placed out wide providing width, when that would be so much better if it's Alex or Giovinco.
I think Amauri is the better of the two but Iaquinta has turned into a good striker himself and should get games too of course.

I also think all of Del Piero, Giovinco and Amauri are better at complementing, what will be so new on this team, the quality passing down the middle from the Brazilians, Melo and of course first and foremost playmaker Diego.

Who by the way has a frequently updated youtube-channel!

Worth watching: Giorgio Chiellini: In his prime right now, he has all it takes to cement his status as the best current Italian defender.
When it comes to defending he really does everything well, but in my eyes "just" has to take one final mature step away from Materazzi-like reckless, sometimes dirty, tendencies and into great defender territory.
It will be interesting to watch if he will do that this year.