Is Serie A back??

What a brilliant season its been in Serie A so far.... a season of amazing equality, where even after 11 rounds the top 8 are separated by only 4 points!!

Its been clear that Serie A has been rebuilding over the last 2 seasons, after many years of decline. Obviously, its no where near the domination it had over europe in the early 90s. Personally, I don't think that will ever happen, even tho the huge amount of foriegn investment in EPL might take it close to that kinda situation.

But the good news is that the difference between top teams in Serie A, and the middle table teams has considerably reduced. Teams like Napoli, Lazio and Udinese are seriously making the "top 5" look more like a "top 8" now. This has made the competition so much more interesting, and we may witness a many horse race for the title. After a long long time... and in that respect, Serie A is back. Thats how Serie A domination had started in the 80s, and looks like those days of 7-8 teams competing for the title may soon be back.

Of course, it may not happen that way this season... Over the course of the next 6-7 months, there is a good chance that Milan and Inter will pull away from the current leading pack. But with so much depth of good teams in the league, that may not happen.... every team will lose points, even Milan and Inter, which will give some respite to teams like Napoli, Juve and Fiorentina to remain within touching distance of the Milanese teams.

Two years ago Inter won the league with a mammoth 97 points. This season I predict that the winner will end up with less than 85 points. And while the milanese clubs remain strong favourites, there are 5 other clubs still habouring the ambitions of winning the scudetto this season. Juve, Napoli, Udinese, Fiorentina and Lazio are showing that they can keep up with the pace set in Milan.

So much so that its very very difficult to predict who will qualify for the CL this season. If I have to take a shot now, it will be Inter, Milan, Juve and Napoli/Fiorentina. But one thing is already certain... this is going to be the most interesting scudetto race since the early 90s.

What do you guys think? Who will make the CL spots this season? And how close will the race be?

Seria A is definitely back, but i think football on a hold is back after two years of mediocrity.

In La liga it seems as if the title challenge will go down to the wire.

The return of liverpool has put a different look to the the EPL title chance, so i would say it will be a very good year of football fans not match which league you support.

and let us not forget The french and germany leagues which are also shaping up to be a fights to the wire as well.

You are right with Serie A defo being great this season. in fact it has been the best league so far this season imo. Entertaining and with good players appearing. only really saw Lavezzi against Milan a couple of matches back and i was very impressed with him. Zarate obviously has been a revelation but for me that was kind of expected.
I dont think Inter will win this year but i suspect that they will do well in Cl.
(despite bad cl form so far)
I like Napoli so hopefully they can take a cl spot. they have improved on their away form. Also hope that Lazio keep it up but i think they won't be able to keep up.

Messiah wrote:Seria A is definitely back, but i think football on a hold is back after two years of mediocrity.

In La liga it seems as if the title challenge will go down to the wire.

The return of liverpool has put a different look to the the EPL title chance, so i would say it will be a very good year of football fans not match which league you support.

and let us not forget The french and germany leagues which are also shaping up to be a fights to the wire as well.

Last season was hardly mediocrity... IMO it was the most competitive Serie A we have had in a decade. But this season is already looking better....

Liverpool have certainly made EPL look much more interesting, as far as the title race is concerned. EPL needs some serious challengers for the CL spots, breaking the top 4, and hopefully Man City will do that next season...

Super Madrid wrote:You are right with Serie A defo being great this season. in fact it has been the best league so far this season imo. Entertaining and with good players appearing. only really saw Lavezzi against Milan a couple of matches back and i was very impressed with him. Zarate obviously has been a revelation but for me that was kind of expected.
I dont think Inter will win this year but i suspect that they will do well in Cl.
(despite bad cl form so far)
I like Napoli so hopefully they can take a cl spot. they have improved on their away form. Also hope that Lazio keep it up but i think they won't be able to keep up.

Yeah, quite a few new exciting talents... clubs like Napoli (Hamsik, Lavezzi, Gargano, Santacroce, Denis, etc) have "created" quite a few new stars in Serie A. Also small clubs like Catania and Atalanta have impressed, making there very few "easy" games in the league... that is what has made Serie A so interesting... you could lose to anybody, and just beating teams like Catania is an excellent result for even the biggest of sides, forget the scoreline...

In my opinion Serie A never left on the European stage (at the highest level that is).

In the last five years, Milan has won the CL twice, and Italy has won the World Cup. Now, Italian teams are even doing well in the UEFA Cup. Italy also has the highest coefficient points this year. Serie A is still the best school for football IMO. The tactical nous of people like Lippi, Capello, Spaletti, Prandelli is the envy of Europe, and England hiring Capello testifies to that. Italian coaches are held in very high regard throughout.

Furthermore, and I have touched on this before and some may disagree, the prototypical Italian player is from a smarter breed of footballer than his English or Spanish counterpart. Italian players are very adept at accentuating their strengths to compensate for their weaknesses. For example, Vincenzo Iaquinta is a good player. However, he can adapt to a coach's tactical system very well and use his speed and size to his advantage. Fabio Grosso is another example. He is a good player, but he is nowhere near the best left-back in the world. However, while many remember him for his (sort of) dive, he also knows how to offset his distinct lack of pace by diagonally approaching the box before making crosses.

Finally, Italians have always privileged winning football over aesthetics, and that is why they have won more than Spain and England over the years. A results based philosophy bears more fruit over the years. Spain's win in 2008 will be memorable and rightly so, but Italy's frequent trips to the podium on the international stage are far more enduring images--whether we like it or not.

The problem of the Serie A these days is...its not an Italian product at all!! Hence it doesnt sell abroad!

Take an Alfa Romeo for example...looks brilliant!! We all know that the quality sucks yet we buy it. Same goes for overpriced Italian clothes!

When it comes to quality..the Serie A is a good as any other other league if not better...but its just so horrible to look at!! And thus foreigners wont buy it.

Fey wrote:The problem of the Serie A these days is...its not an Italian product at all!! Hence it doesnt sell abroad!

Take an Alfa Romeo for example...looks brilliant!! We all know that the quality sucks yet we buy it. Same goes for overpriced Italian clothes!

When it comes to quality..the Serie A is a good as any other other league if not better...but its just so horrible to look at!! And thus foreigners wont buy it.

Yeah--the stadia are a big mess. The racism and thuggery does not help either.

Fey wrote:The problem of the Serie A these days is...its not an Italian product at all!! Hence it doesnt sell abroad!

Take an Alfa Romeo for example...looks brilliant!! We all know that the quality sucks yet we buy it. Same goes for overpriced Italian clothes!

When it comes to quality..the Serie A is a good as any other other league if not better...but its just so horrible to look at!! And thus foreigners wont buy it.

Yeah, I know what you mean. Lack of quality programming and no organised international marketing has hurt Serie A a lot. These are two areas EPL has excelled in, the TV programming is the best and the marketing is brilliant. And this then seeps down to better stadiums, more crowds, etc...