Serie A discussion

[Juventino]

Finally the real stuff is back. And it seems as if we have a great season ahead, with plenty of candidates for the Scudetto and the Champions League. Juventus will start as favourites again, but pushing them will be Napoli and Milan. Fiorentina will also be around the mark, while Inter, Roma and Lazio are all looking for a top three finish. Can never rule out Udinese for a tilt at Europe, while we also welcome Sassuolo to the League, plus the returning Verona and Livorno.

Round 1
Cagliari - Atalanta
Fiorentina - Catania
Inter - Genoa
Lazio - Udinese
Livorno - Roma
Napoli - Bologna
Parma - Chievo
Sampdoria - Juventus
Torino - Sassuolo
Verona - Milan

Verona v Milan starts the season, a nice way too. It's a fixture with plenty of history (mostly bad for Milan). Then Samp - Juve, and the rest of the games on Sunday, except Fiorentina - Cagliari which is Monday. Not sure about the Rai situation yet. They are showing the two Sat night games in America, so I imagine they will here, but the guide has not yet been updated. Not sure on any Sunday matches yet.

[mike17]

i bloody hope its on i just bought it!

[Juventino]

Good first night of the season (and both matches were on Rai). Verona were good value for their shock 2-1 win over Milan. Luca Toni turning back the clock with a headed double. Was a great atmosphere at the Bentegodi and none of the issues that were feared beforehand.

Juve got their campaign off to a winning start with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Sampdoria. Tevez getting the only goal after good build-up play involving Vidal and Pogba.

[mike17]

pogba looked an absolute beast at times

[David Puddy]

Lovely passing and build up to the Juve goal. 2 in 2 games for Tevez.

Milan are making a habit of starting off seasons poorly in the past couple of years. When you look at their team on paper, I think they'll be lucky to finish in the top 3 this year. Forward line of Balo, Niang and SES will play together for years to come and have a lot of potential, but then throughout the rest of the pitch they are missing the top quality stars that you usually associate with Milan. Let's hope for Serie A's sake that they beat PSV and qualify for the CL. Would be shocking to see only 2 Italian teams in there.

[getborn]

A good showing considering it's very early days for this 'new' team.

Hamsik is fucking brilliant.

[El Pibe D'Oro]

Great start particularly against our "Bestia nera". Maybe Pioli just had it in for Mazzarri

My God Hamsik what a player.....

The formation looks to allow the team to be more fluid, weird watching Maggio play so deep an defensively but it allowed Zuniga to be that jolly coming out of defence. he was very good and I hope we keep him for this season at least. The front 4 of Hamsik, Pandev Callejon and Higuain caused them so much trouble and Higuain is a lot more mobile than I thought he would be. We still had Insigne and Mertens on the bench!!!

Callejon looked impressive, I think Bologna had about 4 shots and 3 were when we were 3-0 up.

Enjoy for 24 hours and move on, another grudge match against Chievo next week away - I cant ever remember winning there.

[Juventino]

Very good first up display from Napoli.

[Blue Mastiff]

napoli beat chievo 2010 towards end of season with goals from denis and lavezzi but pretty much thru out the ages its been napoli win at home chievo win at home

[Ga Pala]

Loves his Napoli stats does old mastiff

[Juventino]

You can watch all highlights on this channel (English commentary): https://www.youtube.com/user/LoveSerieA?feature=watch

[David Puddy]

After a great opening weekend of Serie A action, one of the concerning things is that the some of the big teams have taken their focus off of Italian players. Besides Juve, who started the game with 5 Italians and AC who started with 7, Inter only started with 1 and the same for Napoli.

Roma had 6 and Fiorentina only 3. Good to see Giuseppe Rossi back on track btw.

All the big transfers that have taken place have involved non-Italians (Tevez, Llorente, Higuain, Gomez, Callejon, etc). Only big money transfer I can think of at this stage for an Italian was Ogbonna.

Let us hope it doesn't get to the stage of the EPL where you get two teams playing each other who don't have a single Pom in their ranks.

[El Pibe D'Oro]

Callejon was 9 million, Mertens also 9 million.

Agreed, I would ove to see more Italians in the Napoli side, but Normally we would have had 3-4. Also we tried to buy Astori but that fell thru.

Cannavaro and Insigne were on the bench.

[Juventino]

Good to see Giuseppe Rossi starting and scoring. Meanwhile, Pizzaro's was a fine effort.But, Gomez's miss

[BAGGIO 15]

Callejon was 9 million, Mertens also 9 million.

Agreed, I would ove to see more Italians in the Napoli side, but Normally we would have had 3-4. Also we tried to buy Astori but that fell thru.

Cannavaro and Insigne were on the bench.

I'm a little concerned that most transfer talk is about selling Italians and replacing them with foreign players.
More the happy to have a sprinkling but the side needs to always be 50 % Italian on the park as a minimum in my view.
The high number of Italians has always been a badge of honor for Juve.

[Redeye10]

Hey, guys asked this question before but have had conflicting reports. Is Serie A games being shown on RAI
Can anyone confirm if yes or no, cant seem to find it anywhere aside from live streaming
Thanks

[Juventino]

It was on last weekend, so I'd say it will be on.

Round 2
Chievo - Napoli
Juventus - Lazio
Roma - Verona
Milan - Cagliari
Atalanta - Torino
Bologna - Sampdoria
Catania - Inter
Genoa - Fiorentina
Sassuolo - Livorno
Udinese - Parma

[Redeye10]

Thanks mate much appreciated

[David Puddy]

Juve and Napoli sending out an early season message that they will be right up there at the end of the campaign.

Pogba with another assist and Tevez with another goal. Can't see Marchisio getting back in there if Pogba continues this way.

[Juventino]

It was a great night of action, two very entertaining matches.

[Juventino]

A crazy night (and weekend) of action, 43 goals scored.

Second week in a row that Roma took an hour to get the opener, then netted again moments later. Pjanic's goal was a beauty, a chip from outside the box. Ljajic also scored on debut after coming off the bench. Roma looked good, even if they played (like last week) a newly promoted team.

I get the feeling there will already be pressure on Liverani, because well, that's Preziosi for you. Although Genoa have had two difficult opponents to start with. Perin's howler for Rossi's first was terrible (great to see Rossi back to scoring ways in the early days of the campaign).

Not a good home debut for Sassuolo, especially against a side they were better than last season.

Alvarez with a great run and finish for Inter, meanwhile we saw how Jonathan and Nagatomo better suit being wingbacks.

Perin's was bad, but Curci's howler goes close to worst of the night. But of course, Bologna had Mosca-beard to equalise. And a Kone bicycle kick doesn't go astray. But Gabbiadini marked his national team call up with a great free kick.

[mike17]

its funny coz after the weekends epl games i noticed that both weeks not many goals were scored. the 4 games the other night were all 0-0 until last 15mins

i switched over to serie a after watching epl and said to my brother that its a shame that its not in HD! then of course both games were entertaining and more importantly - not total chaos like the epl games often are

pogba and hamsik, hard to find 2 better centre mids anywhere

[Juventino]

This is the worst international break of the season. You get a taste of Serie A action and they take it away from you

At least we now know the full fixtures and times list until Christmas.

[BAGGIO 15]

its funny coz after the weekends epl games i noticed that both weeks not many goals were scored. the 4 games the other night were all 0-0 until last 15mins

i switched over to serie a after watching epl and said to my brother that its a shame that its not in HD! then of course both games were entertaining and more importantly - not total chaos like the epl games often are

pogba and hamsik, hard to find 2 better centre mids anywhere

On ESPN Press Pass, one of the commentators claimed the lack of goals was due to many sides strengthening.
I'd of thought better strikers would of scored even against better defenses. Either that or the strikers they purchased have a reputation and lack application. The person making the claim, clearly has a vested interest as he's only on the panel as he's English. He talked down the Serie A, but I'm used to that kind of talk.

[mike17]

its funny coz after the weekends epl games i noticed that both weeks not many goals were scored. the 4 games the other night were all 0-0 until last 15mins

i switched over to serie a after watching epl and said to my brother that its a shame that its not in HD! then of course both games were entertaining and more importantly - not total chaos like the epl games often are

pogba and hamsik, hard to find 2 better centre mids anywhere

On ESPN Press Pass, one of the commentators claimed the lack of goals was due to many sides strengthening.
I'd of thought better strikers would of scored even against better defenses. Either that or the strikers they purchased have a reputation and lack application. The person making the claim, clearly has a vested interest as he's only on the panel as he's English. He talked down the Serie A, but I'm used to that kind of talk.

it probably is true that a lack of goals is due to better defences, although that doesnt always translate to europe. i respect the 'battle' aspect of the game but as a busy person with a lot of games to watch i like to see more actual football, and goals aswell i guess

maybe if i was unemployed i would enjoy epl more hehe

also when you have had years of relentless good epl coverage i guess it loses its impact. i havnt seen much serie a since espn used to show it pre calciopoli

[Blue Mastiff]

yeah really crap atmosphere with the running track around the ground

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcfvA-SwN0s

[getborn]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcfvA-SwN0s

That's brilliant.

How the game has changed....

[El Pibe D'Oro]

I have that on DVD Getborn if your interested in borrowing it.

[getborn]

I have that on DVD Getborn if your interested in borrowing it.

Some brutal challenges in there.
The blatant celebrations after the penalty was won & Tacconi's antics after are priceless.

What a game we once had.

[bapa]

Serie A back this weekend after the break

Round 3

Inter V Juve (battle of the undefeated)
Napoli V Atalanta
Torino V Milan
Sampdoria V Genoa
Udinese V Bologna
Lazio V Chievo
Fiorentina V Cagliari
Verona V Sassuolo
Livorno V Catania
Parma V Roma