Fiorentina serious about UEFA Cup!

This is good for Italian football. The Gigliati have the squad to rotate and compete at 2 competitions. And from what I hear, looks like they are serious about the UEFA Cup.

I hope they set an example to other Serie A sides who play reserves at uefa cup - and hurt Italys uefa ranking. And a Bayern-Fiorentina game down the line would be great for UEFA Cup!

Donadel has Dutch courage
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Fiorentina midfielder Marco Donadel is full of confidence ahead of the Viola’s UEFA Cup trip to Dutch side Groningen. The Gigliati can be forgiven for approaching Thursday’s Euroborg clash with quiet confidence as their opponents finished eighth in the Eredivisie last term.

While Fiorentina were held by Atalanta last weekend, they have enjoyed a positive start to the campaign with a win over Tuscan rivals Empoli and a battling draw against Milan. The excitement is building in Florence and the determination to succeed on the European stage is intense after the club was stripped of Champions League football in the aftermath of the Calciopoli sacndal.

“We are playing consistently well,” Donadel stated. “We regret losing two points against Atalanta, but we are happy with the way that we performed. “We are focused on the UEFA Cup, but I don’t think that it will be an easy game. Loads of our fans will make the trip to Holland and we believe they will have a good evening.

Groningen will be very scared now!!! They thought they had a small chance cause Fiorentina didnt took it serious!!

This is very sad news for everybody who wishes Groningnen well...

Lets be honest. EVERY team rotates for the UEFA cup bluenine. Blackburn, Newcastle and Spurs did from the EPL last season.

Italian teams just don't seem to have the strength in depth that EPL teams do

Fey wrote:Groningen will be very scared now!!! They thought they had a small chance cause Fiorentina didnt took it serious!!

This is very sad news for everybody who wishes Groningnen well...

Lol, we didn't have a single striker fit to start against Utrecht and they did us 0-2.

I don't think there are many FC Groningen fans who have any kind of hope for a positive result....

Oooh, watch out UEFA Cup, an Italian team wants to win it. Until ofcourse they get knocked out, then they will decide they "weren't taking it seriously". When it comes to the UEFA cup an italian team can only be knocked out by itself.... apparently.

Kimbo wrote:Oooh, watch out UEFA Cup, an Italian team wants to win it. Until ofcourse they get knocked out, then they will decide they "weren't taking it seriously". When it comes to the UEFA cup an italian team can only be knocked out by itself.... apparently.

Hah, Confucius said : "Italians can't win from you, but you can lose to them"

Confucius was right when he said that.

Confucius the Chinese philosopher? He never said such a thing!

No, the Confucius from Betondorp aka the other JC....

I have family in Betondorp. You mean Jesus is from Betondorp and not Nazareth ??

Rotation is one thing, playing reserves/youth players is quite another. I think we all know the difference between the seriousness Italian sides have shown to teh uefa cup vis a vis their spanish or english counterparts in recent years. Just when the things get serious domestically, italian uefa cup teams of late rest their regular starters during midweek.

Teams like Fiorentina and Palermo have the strength in depth that Blackburn or newcastle or spurs have. I think you are wrong there.

Tweedle wrote:Lets be honest. EVERY team rotates for the UEFA cup bluenine. Blackburn, Newcastle and Spurs did from the EPL last season.

Italian teams just don't seem to have the strength in depth that EPL teams do

Spoken like a true ignorant, you need to stop viewing things only from the english perspective. There are these differences in attuitude towards various cups, I think any italian will tell you what they think of the uefa cup in the last 6-7 years.

For example, many Italian teams have the same attitude towards Coppa italia, while teh english teams take the FA cup more seriously.

And for the record, I don't agree with the attitude... for a team which is in mid table domestically, I expect them to focus on uefa cup rather than treat it with indifference. Italian clubs will have to realise that this is hurting them in europe, and that uefa cup will sooner or later become a more significant honour than it is now.

Kimbo wrote:Oooh, watch out UEFA Cup, an Italian team wants to win it. Until ofcourse they get knocked out, then they will decide they "weren't taking it seriously". When it comes to the UEFA cup an italian team can only be knocked out by itself.... apparently.

Rotation and playing reserves are effectively the same thing.

Newcastle's first team squad last season was: Babayaro, Taylor, Moore, Carr, Milner, Butt, Parker, Duff, Martins and Sibierski.

Newcastle team verses Palermo:

Krul, Ramage, Moore, Bramble, Taylor, Solano (Carroll 90), Emre, N'Zogbia (Sibierski 68), Milner, Butt, Luque (Pattison 77).

So, that's 3 first teamers. Hardly excessive + they were away from homes

Palermo team verses Newcastle:

Fontana, Dellafiore, Cassani, Barzagli (Biava 46), Pisano, Tedesco (Simplicio 66), Guana (Di Michele 66), Parravicini, Munari, Brienza, Caracciolo.

bluenine wrote:Spoken like a true ignorant, you need to stop viewing things only from the english perspective. There are these differences in attuitude towards various cups, I think any italian will tell you what they think of the uefa cup in the last 6-7 years.

For example, many Italian teams have the same attitude towards Coppa italia, while teh english teams take the FA cup more seriously.

Kimbo wrote:Oooh, watch out UEFA Cup, an Italian team wants to win it. Until ofcourse they get knocked out, then they will decide they "weren't taking it seriously". When it comes to the UEFA cup an italian team can only be knocked out by itself.... apparently.

No, spoken by someone who doesn't buy this bullshit about Itailians not caring about the UEFA Cup. Ofcourse all teams will prioritise the league over the UEFA cup, everyone does it, they're not alone in this.

Kimbo's right. EVERY team rotates. Teams that play their youth team only do so because they don't have a large enough first team.

Last season Newcastle and Spurs had two squads, a league squad and a UEFA cup squad with usually about 3/4 first teamers in the UEFA cup squad (rotated).

Then if you get to the knockouts you up the number of first teamers to about 8/9

Inter rotates sqauds for CL and Serie A. It does not mean reserves, it means resting a few players so that they remain fresh. Thats not like playing reserves.

You gave one example. I can give you several where italian teams basically started uefa cup games with negligible starters, while the english started with most of them. Even in your example below, the palermo starters did not include 7 of their regulars.

Tweedle wrote:Rotation and playing reserves are effectively the same thing.

Newcastle's first team squad last season was: Babayaro, Taylor, Moore, Carr, Milner, Butt, Parker, Duff, Martins and Sibierski.

Newcastle team verses Palermo:

Krul, Ramage, Moore, Bramble, Taylor, Solano (Carroll 90), Emre, N'Zogbia (Sibierski 68), Milner, Butt, Luque (Pattison 77).

So, that's 3 first teamers. Hardly excessive + they were away from homes

Palermo team verses Newcastle:

Fontana, Dellafiore, Cassani, Barzagli (Biava 46), Pisano, Tedesco (Simplicio 66), Guana (Di Michele 66), Parravicini, Munari, Brienza, Caracciolo.

I remmeber Parma playing with a bunch of reserves in the quarter finals of the uefa cup a few seasons ago... or was it semis?

Anyways, thats besides the point... the reason for this thread was that I am glad there is one Italian team which says that they want to win the UEFA Cup... thats the right spirit.

Tweedle wrote:
Then if you get to the knockouts you up the number of first teamers to about 8/9

@Bluenine,

Presumably then Italian teams dont take the Champions League seriously either. Because Milan (and Juve in the past) aside, your record in that competition isnt all that great.... ;-)

If you look at the south of their country...the Italians dont take anything seriously

Who are the other Italian clubs in it? Will they be taking it seriously?

I was merely trying to demonstrate that Serie A teams take the competition as seriously as both the EPL and Spanish teams - not particularly seriously if we're being honest. The aim is to get through the groups without having to put in too much effort. After that teams generally field stronger sides.

I'll need to see evidence of this Parma team you refer to

bluenine wrote:I remmeber Parma playing with a bunch of reserves in the quarter finals of the uefa cup a few seasons ago... or was it semis?

Anyways, thats besides the point... the reason for this thread was that I am glad there is one Italian team which says that they want to win the UEFA Cup... thats the right spirit.

Tweedle wrote:
Then if you get to the knockouts you up the number of first teamers to about 8/9

Handsome Prince Of Saxony wrote:@Bluenine,

Presumably then Italian teams dont take the Champions League seriously either. Because Milan (and Juve in the past) aside, your record in that competition isnt all that great.... ;-)

We usually don't take the CL seriously either, except for in the 05/06 season. Even then, we decided to play our reserve defence in the final

I rather see Fiorentina finish in the top 4 of Serie A.

UEFA Cup is a micky mouse trophy. The day they let 4 teams into the CL, UEFA Cup lost all its meaning.

Anyway, Bluenine has a point though. When we played them in the semi's a couple of years ago lots of there first team players were on the bench!!

Not a smart move, RVP was on fire that night!!!

When did i say anything about not taking the CL seriously??

And based on the last 5 years performance in the CL, Inter are currently ranked 4th in europe by uefa behind only Milan, Barca & Liverpool. We may not have won it, but we have done better than most teams (including Chelsea). Tho we will drop when the 02/03 results are taken out next year

And if you are discounting Milan and Juve, its like saying that apart from Real and Barca, spanish teams never win the CL so they must be $h!t

Handsome Prince Of Saxony wrote:@Bluenine,

Presumably then Italian teams dont take the Champions League seriously either. Because Milan (and Juve in the past) aside, your record in that competition isnt all that great.... ;-)

Handsome Prince Of Saxony wrote:@Bluenine,

Presumably then Italian teams dont take the Champions League seriously either. Because Milan (and Juve in the past) aside, your record in that competition isnt all that great.... ;-)

Inter, Juve/Roma also reach the latter stages regularly. And Milan are a Serie A team so you can't just discount them. 4 finalists in 5 seasons... yeh terrible

@ bluenine

I think he was joking

Inter may be ranked fourth but the do seem to underachieve, going out to Valencia and Villarreal the last two seasons

@ bobo

Roma!

Haven't they only got to the last 16 twice in about ten years?

Juve consistantly reached the latter stages and now Roma are doing that job

BoBo Vieri wrote:Juve consistantly reached the latter stages and now Roma are doing that job

So how many times have they reached the last 16 in the last ten years?

i put Juve/Roma, not Juve and Roma.

and in answer to your question, out of the 4 times theyve competed in the CL, theyve reached the last 16 three times.

This is exactly the problem with Italian sides in UEFA CUP... Empoli have anyways weakened over the summer, and now plan to field players who have not yet had a chance.... like its a practise game... they will get slaughtered with that attitude, and cost Italy points...

But most fans share Gigliati's views on UEFA Cup, so no one will really mind... this has been happening regularily in the last 6-7 years...

Cagni sends in the reserves
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Empoli are preparing for their historic UEFA Cup bow against Zurich, but Coach Gigi Cagni has revealed that he is ready to send out a reserve side. The Tuscan minnows stunned the world of calcio by grabbing a UEFA Cup spot with a seventh-placed finish last term. Now European football is on its way to a town with under 50,000 inhabitants, but Serie A is clearly still Cagni’s priority. “I have been watching several DVDs of Zurich because they aren’t a side I know much about,” the experienced tactician stated on Radio Kiss Kiss Napoli

“All my players would like to be out there in Switzerland, but I have already told them that I intend to field some lads who haven’t found space in the side yet. “We want to get through to the next round, but we are playing without pressure because the League remains our main objective and our minds will be on Napoli straight after the game.” Empoli have just two draws to their name and will go in search of their first win as they host Napoli this weekend.