Lazio v Milan

[Nebraska Red]

What a waste of time that was!

 

a game that had plenty of potential was wasted by 2 teams that showed little or no desire to go out and win the game. It was not helped by a neon kitted referee who blew for anything and everything.

 

the way it was played, you might have thought the pitch was about 20 yards wide.

[matty]

Poor old Milan.

 

You'd need a heart of stone not to laugh.

[Knox_Harrington]

Where are Milan now?

 

Inter look to have it wrapped up.

[matty]

Milan are ninth, 30 points off the lead, though they would be fourth and 22 points off the lead without the penalisation.

 

Inter 11 points clear of Roma, having won their last 13 league games consecutively, and are still unbeaten in Serie A this season. At last, some justice is being done.

[Knox_Harrington]

So they'll probably get a top four finish? Shame that.

 

Are Inter playing really well or grinding it?

[Guest ritchie_50]

So they'll probably get a top four finish? Shame that.

 

Are Inter playing really well or grinding it?

 

They've got no challenge at all Inter. They were dire at the start of the season but were grinding results out and since they've been on their record winning streak, their confidence has gone up and up. They've already beat Roma, Fiorentina and Palermo away and won the derby against AC Milan, so I can see Inter going the season unbeaten. Serie A has been desperate this season, without Juventus, or a decent Milan side and so many teams with points deductions.

[matty]

Now the signings have settled in and there has been a measure of stability at the club (shock horror), the team have improved steadily. Having said that, Moratti can barely resist trying to throw spanners into the works by letting himself get linked with other coaches and talking about new players too much. Like most Italian presidents, he can?t leave well alone (although the Agnellis were always good at that).

 

Of course, Italian football has taken such a battering that even the World Cup win couldn?t make it come back after Moggiopoli. It?s a pity, but all Inter can do is keep winning, and the test of how good they are will come when the European Cup starts up again. Juventus are getting exactly what they deserve, but in a league where power has shiften inexorably towards the big three over the last few seasons, it can?t be as competitive.

 

However, a new fairer TV deal might mean that at least a couple of the middle ranking teams, Fiorentina, Samp, Parma, Roma, can get back into contention within a couple of years, and Juve probably won?t be able to spend enough to go straight back to the top. Milan need rebuilding, and Inter will almost certainly self-destruct at some point, so it might become a fascinating league again.

 

If Moratti was any good, he?d have a good look at the squad at the end of this season, get rid of a bit of dead wood, slim down the squad and make one or two key signings. But he?ll probably sell 7 and buy 10.

[growler]

heart of stone here, so HAHA HAHAHA

 

Even wilkinson would have seen that the milan team were aging and started to make changes to it.

with 30mil in their back pocket, they still didn't address it. There are a number of players they could look at (Alex at PSV?) who would fit inthere.

 

If Kaka leaves, they will be well and truly shagged.

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

Milan are ninth, 30 points off the lead, though they would be fourth and 22 points off the lead without the penalisation.

 

Inter 11 points clear of Roma, having won their last 13 league games consecutively, and are still unbeaten in Serie A this season. At last, some justice is being done.

for cheating us in the ECSF?

[matty]

42 years ago Macca. Get over it.

[floyd]

42 years ago Macca. Get over it.

but we wouldn't have to suffer, those tw4ts winning it at Wembley. We would of been first

[matty]

I'd rather have most than be first.

[Extraordinary Swindle]

Alex at PSV?

Chelsea/Abramovich won't sell him to a major European club.

[Gilps]

Juve enjoying life among the proles

 

With Inter looking home and hosed in a sub-standard Serie A, it's time to drop a divsion to check out the welfare of a well-known Old Lady.

 

James Richardson

January 24, 2007 10:39 AM

 

Another week, another Inter win and another two points added to their lead over Roma. The margin now stands at 11 points and rising, leading Italian bookmakers SNAI to announce they'll no longer be accepting bets on the title.

 

With Inter notching up their thirteenth straight win this weekend, and Serie A's title race looking as one-sided as a Möbius strip, readers may be moved to wonder instead this week about some of the other big questions in Calcio.

 

Like Juventus. Disgraced and dispossessed of a couple of dodgy titles a few months ago, how is everyone's favourite naughty Old Lady faring down among the Serie B proles? Will they really be back challenging for the scudetto next season, just 12 months on from a scandal bigger even than Big Brother's bigot from Bermondsey?

 

Very probably, is the answer. With a little less than half of the Serie B season played, Juve have already laughed off their nine point penalty to emerge as clear leaders in this, their first ever Serie B campaign. There have been hiccups - an opening day draw at Rimini caused a few shivers and a recent trip to Mantova brought their first defeat - but overall the old girl has dominated the division in very much the manner you'd expect of a team containing four World Cup finalists and a Ballon d'Or winner.

 

Last weekend brought a typical win. Juve's backline - which is so poor that manager Didier Deschamps is hoping to rush Jean-Alain Boumsong back from injury - allowed little Bari to take the lead inside the first minute, but Juve were soon back on top and cruising to a 4-2 win with goals from David Trezeguet, Alessandro del Piero (celebrating his 500th game for the club) and a brace from Pavel Nedved (himself celebrating a return from a five-game ban for stamping on a referee's foot).

 

The result left Juve two points clear of fellow chunks of Calcio history Genoa and Napoli - and well on course for a triumphant return to the top flight this summer. Expect them to go back in with heads held high too, for while last year proved one of the lowest points in their history, Juve now feel that, as the only club relegated, they've paid their dues. Additionally, they also know how much the top flight's missed them. Having the moribund Messina take the place of Buffon, Del Piero and chums this term was damaging enough for Serie A, but losing them for next season, with a divisionwide collective deal for TV rights on the horizon, would be economic suicide.

 

In fact, if Juve's return means a credibility battle anywhere, it's not with fans or the rest of the league, but with their own players. Remaining stars like Trezeguet, Buffon and Mauro Camoranesi have made it clear they will not stay on again this summer without the side being strengthened. Buffon, happy to joke a year ago about staying on to win his first ever Second Division title, couldn't have been clearer: "Getting promoted just to finish mid-table holds no interest," he said.

 

So far the club have responded by signing Bayern Munich midfielder Hasan Salihamidzic and are close to landing Czech international defender Zdenek Grygera from Ajax, both on a free. Other rising players, like forward Valeri Bojinov and nippy wide man Marco Marchionni, have also joined them since their demotion. At a guess, this line-up could comfortably challenge for fourth place in the top division, but what Buffon and the old guard are waiting for is something a bit more world class.

 

For a club already massively out of pocket from last summer's scandal, that won't be easy. Estimates of the total losses to Juve so far are around the ?90m mark. Both Sky and Nike have cut back their sponsorship deals, while Libyan oil firm Tamoil last month decided to cancel their shirt sponsorship - worth around ?20m a year - in the wake of the scandal.

 

Juve's story is that this shortfall will be made up by their long time sugar daddies the Agnelli family, and their family concern the Fiat car company. It's over a decade since the Agnellis put any real money into the club, but talk now is of them making a ?50m war chest available, possibly through a Fiat shirt sponsorship deal. Quite whether either party would benefit from such an association, since both Juve and Fiat have a reputation for requiring regular fixes, is another question.

 

In the meantime, promotion's still not guaranteed. Only the top three go up, and midway through the season, seven teams are within five points of first place. Still, the current top three of Juventus, Napoli and Genoa must make mouthwatering reading for Serie A's organisers. The three have won 38 scudetti between them (27 for Juventus alone), which goes some way towards explaining why many have trouble taking the current top flight seriously without them.

 

On which note, the next round of the Serie A season sees Inter try for a fourteenth consecutive win away to Sampdoria. Samp held them to a surprise draw at the San Siro back in Round Two, but on current form they'll do well to keep Inter's winning margin down this time. I'll be back with the word on that, or possibly casting around for glad tidings from the third division, in a week's time. See you then.

 

Serie A round-up: Ascoli 1 - 3 Atalanta, Reggina 0 - 0 Palermo, Catania 0 - 1 Cagliari, Empoli 2 - 0 Sampdoria, Internazionale 3 - 1 Fiorentina, Livorno 1 - 1 AS Roma, Parma 1 - 0 Torino, Siena 2 - 1 Chievo, Udinese 1 - 0 Messina, Lazio 0 - 0 AC Milan.

 

Serie B round-up: Genoa 2 - 1 Mantova, Albinoleffe 1 - 1 Frosinone, Brescia 2 - 1 Pescara, Crotone 0 - 0 Bologna, Juventus 4 - 2 Bari, Lecce 1 - 1 Napoli, Piacenza 0 - 3 Vicenza, Rimini 1 - 1 Triestina, Treviso 3 - 0 Spezia, Verona 2 - 1 Cesena.

[Cobs]

 

Another week, another Inter win and another two points added to their lead over Roma. The margin now stands at 11 points and rising, leading Italian bookmakers SNAI to announce they'll no longer be accepting bets on the title.

 

11 point lead with 18 games to go?

 

someone should tell them 'it's on' !!!

 

 

 

[matty]

We already know. :getinandfeckoffjuve: