The Enduring Legacy of Antonio Cassano: Serie A 2010/11

Supporting Fiorentina as per usual.

My guess is 4 stabbings, 1 death.

Roma for me as ever, though I hear good things about Genoa and will adopt them as plucky seconds.

Ok can anyone explain why Udinese aren't the sort of team competing for Europe every year? Their players are supremely talented (Di Natale, Sanchez, Zapata, Asamoah, Handovic) and have spent many years together. While they do often have to sell other good players (Iaquinta, Muntari, Quag, Pepe has gone on loan, Felipe etc.), they still start every season with a very strong xi. It was the talk of Sanchez as one of the best young wingers in Europe right now - which I agree with - on the naming rights thread that made me ask this? wtf clubs like this need 4 managers in a year?

imo serie a is more interesting than in a long time this, with ibra to milan and benitez to inter the odds have certainly evened out. supporting roma but they had a terrible mercato as expected.

re udinese, it's weird, typically they're beating juve away one week and the next losing at home against reggina. they would probably gain more from being able to keep their best managers (spalletti) than their best players though.

Yeah now Milan seem to be providing Inter with genuine competition and Rafa has to prove himself, I am super pumped about this season.

with ibra to milan and benitez to inter the odds have certainly evened out.

me-ow!

Haha, didn't notice that

spotter's badges very much in character i guess

News of today: Robinho to Milan, Borriello to Roma.
Berlusconi buying big names = political elections approaching fast.

Well that and a much needed Kaka replacement(s), actually spending the money Real gave them unlike Utd.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/philminshull/zlatan595.jpg

i fucking hate this kit design and want it to go away.

oh hai ive been playing wiv tape and now need to play a game of football

Screw the bbc article btw. 'milan buy zlatan and robinho, they are now going to get relegated.' ummm yeah because zlatan has never proved himself in serie a, huh? especially not as top scorer for many consecutive years. and that robinho, he's never been a destructive force when put together with brazilian teammates like say ronaldinho and pato? there is no way milan could alright after signing two world class forwards to replace shite like borriello!

There has been a great debate in the press whether Milan should play all four of their so-called 'fabulous four' attackers - Robinho, Ibrahimovic, Ronaldinho and Pato - together at the same time. Robinho believes it is workable.

"Any team can play with four strikers. The most important thing is that Milan score goals, not individual players," he noted.

Great thread title!

everyone in the milan camp seems to think it's possible, most of all berlusconi himself, which is probably not a good sign. signing of robinho doesn't seem that thought through imo.

I don't think it'll work unless Ronnie moves into the Cesc/Lampard #8 role. R&R aren't traditional 'defend occasionally' wingers.

       Abbiati
Zambrotta Nesta   Onyewu Oddo?
       Ambrosini Pirlo
            Dinhole
Pato                  Robinho
          Zlatan

looks p dope tbrr. still not as good as inter, who are a perfect team bar the manager.

yeah it looks dope but also a bit insane. otoh the alternative is more or less to replace ronnie with seedorf and that doesn't feel like an immediate improvement either.

Great thread title!

― Rocky's Banter Cruise (Sgt. Biscuits), Thursday, 9 September 2010 20:14 (17 minutes ago)

maybe we'd get more traffic without the kinda alienating Rafael 'Ooooh Zonal Marking' Benny Tiz part

i'm sorry chris will not be participating because of it.

i don't share the idea the benitez is shit, tactically he is pretty great

but i'm looking forward to seeing how he'll manage to fuck up inter's squad/morale/finances

worst thing about serie a this season is juve getting rid of diego at a huge loss after one season in which their established players were even worse

we REALLY need a thread to define and categorise in decreasing order of importance the various skills required from a top class manager tbh.

also- ronaldinho robinho pato just randomly swapping positions behind and around ibrahimovic can't not work if football is to mean anything

My question about that the other day was prompted by the lack of obvious candidates for the Villa job - in days of yore you'd've'd a dozen candidates in no time, but Sven was the only 'name' really in the picture until someone had the (excellent) idea of giving Houllier a call

Yeah yeah timing etc, but guys like Venables, Walter Smith, Billy Davies, Dave Jones, even Bryan Robson would once have been plausible candidates - that ilk just seems sort of laughable this time around

end of the era of the 'experts' myth. ties in with the banking crash, imo, and the cult of the manager can be lumped in with the worshipping of celebrity ceo's.

eh not really, probably,

tho i may as well write a thesis on something

I've got the day off tomorrow, will knock out 200,000 words on what makes a great manager.

Where did Diego go? And for how much? Putting the name Diego into wikipedia ends up w/ thousands of options I presume.

Oooh... Wolfsberg? Fucking hell Mclaren is a terrific manager.

wolfsburg and hamburg always seem to pick up those types

schalke too, i guess

wolfsburg's been doing good shopping in italy last few years. also picked up kjaer this summer.

also- ronaldinho robinho pato just randomly swapping positions behind and around ibrahimovic can't not work if football is to mean anything

― k¸ (darraghmac), Thursday, 9 September 2010 20:48 (21 minutes ago)

you'd need world xi quality gk/defence/dm behind that lot though. lúcio, samuel, maicon, césar and cambiasso and maybe it would work.

i hate all the crowing about how a few trinkets can't disguise how the rest are old or shit, but who gives a fuck? i don't have any emotional investment in silvio berlusconi parading a scudetto in election year but if milan play RRIP or just RIP they'll at least be worth watching

xp, yeah the fuckers, another one from right under our noses. add kjaer & huntelaar and i'd be certain of top 4 again

rip milan

but i'm looking forward to seeing how he'll manage to fuck up inter's squad/morale/finances

this exactly. i figure a recent treble winning team, with no major transfers either in or out, would first of all need a great motivator/inspirator and that he is not

also can't wait to see how he affects the careers of santon and coutinho, poss the two most exciting u20 players going.

xp y'know i haven't thought about it any more deeply than 'replacing mourinho with benitez lol' but fuckin hell you're so right. the contrast is gonna be .......... interesting.

also hope someone smuggles in a camera to training to see his reaction the first time kerlon does the seal dribble

well they did win the league three times with mancini at the helm so they must be sort of used to dour negative coaching...

true true

mancini bought maicon, zlatan, figo, a 1000 different south american strikers, made stankovic the heart of the team - not exactly 'negative' football. well, to italian standards.

well he's pretty negative in approach...unless that's just since he moved to city. rafa did try and buy figo that summer!

currently juve 3 sampdoria 2

krasic looking good, nice to see 1000 year old alex del piero still at it

what are the best sites for serie A insight/writing?

also has this ever turned up in a garage/funky/whatever song?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHXfHFNlJ_w

:D @ Cesena toppling the silvio galacticos

also daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn roma lost 5-1? lol. ranieri out.

I love Gazza's celebration there, it was a different, more joyous era.

Looking through the weekend results, nearly all the names look Italian. Is it only Inter can afford expensive foreigners any more?

juve & milan still exist, also udinese as the serie a equivilant of wigan.

Still, all that space for domestic talent - they must have a killer national team.

yeah you'd think they'd have won a world cup in the past five years.

They're no New Zealand that's for sure - so many professionals they had to leave one out of their wc squad.

also has this ever turned up in a garage/funky/whatever song?

haha yeah i already suggested roska could do it in a jackin 'feeline' style on one of the ilm threads -- great mindz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upFmi6KruUc

lol fuzzy logik & egypt could do

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJaLPx7RX10

Zlatan Ibrahimovic became embroiled in a heated exchange with Arigo Saachi on Wednesday night.

The Swedish striker was being interviewed after his brace helped AC Milan to a 2-0 victory over Auxerre in their opening UEFA Champions League encounter.

He flipped after being told that Mediaset Premium studio guest Saachi, a legendary former coach of Milan, had joked that he would not have scored his first goal if he did not have such big feet.

Ibrahimovic took that comment to be another sly dig, having previously been subject to perceived abuse from Saachi, and he launched an angry rebuke at the stunned 64-year-old.

"Saachi needs to learn how to shut up," said the forward, who joined Milan from Barcelona during the summer transfer window.

"He also seems jealous because he's talking too much, he needs to talk less about me on TV and in the newspapers.

"If he wants something he can come and see me about it. If you don't like the way I play, don't come and watch me."

An on-air argument then broke out between the pair, during which Ibrahimovic continued to vent his spleen at Saachi.

"He also said things about me when I was at Barcelona," said the Swede.

"I believe I can express my opinion in a polite and correct way, I don't believe I've offended you," said Sacchi.

"When someone talks too much, they talk too much, you're one of those people. If you don't like the way I play, don't come and watch me," said Ibrahimovic.

"Let me explain," added Sacchi.

"You don't need to explain anything to me," responded Ibrahimovic.

"You need to learn some manners, son," concluded Sacchi.

Big drama in the game the other day between Roma and Brescia. Refereeing shenanigans, Mexes sent off, penalty given to Brescia for a foul happening outside the box. Mexes blew a fuse started yelling at the ref.

you left out this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPby3Q98kEo

btw Jibe, what's your take on Menez?

Wow at Julio Cesar.
As for Menez, don't really have a take. I hardly follow italian football and I missed the games he played for France. From what I hear he's a bit like Ben Arfa, can do great things but needs to be more constant. Sounds about right?

yeah pretty much. usally he's got a couple of wow-moments each game, but it seems roma doesn't really know what to do with him. not getting enough playing time to prove himself imo. i was mostly curious if he is considered a future man for the national team or if no one cares either way. and i guess you answered that ;)

milan looking awfully dull as usual at the moment.

Not really considered a future man for the national team, where he's confronted with the same problem as at Roma wrt what to do with him. He won't be the playmaker as that will be Gourcuff/Nasri's responsability, maybe as winger but iirc he plays on the left wing, where we already have a glut of good or potentially good players (Malouda, Ribéry, HBA). He played the last couple of games for France as Gourcuff was out because of WC red card and Nasri was injured, Ribéry banned etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK9sMTAh8Qs

ooooooooft.

so effortless, so beautiful. if I lived in Italy I'd definitely be gay.

oooooft.

Ronaldinho is such an old woman

The Guardian's running a minute-by-minute on Inter-Juve - have they branched out into foreign leagues before?

only for big games (el clasico, san siro derby)...

Inter-Juve has been quite entertaining thus far.

how has krasic been so far?

Really good; had a decent chance of his own and created one for Iaquinta that was just a hair offside. Might have had another decent cross as well.

It'll be Eto'o or Krasic who makes the decisive play if the first 55 minutes are any indication.

Krasic just had a cracking shot knocked wide by Cesar. Not a tough save but a helluva shot.

enjoying this game a lot. krasic's been good, though it seems juve are expecting miracles from him alone already, which might be hoping for a bit much

Inter may not win as much as they did last year but they're much more interesting to watch.

And it ends 0-0. Highly enjoyable.

eto'o was great but should be kept up front imo. milito didn't offer much today and looks like he'd rather be at santiago bernabeu.

sampdoria are having a stinking start to the season. drawing away to bologna 1-1 today makes it 3 (maybe 4) draws, one defeat, one win. Not looking good for replicating last years top 4 finish. Losing Gigi Delneri might be the crucial factor. Cassano went straight to the dressing room after being substituted today. Hardly up there with some of his old tantrums i suppose.

huh, glad to hear you guys enjoyed inter-juve. the guardian mbm guy called it both dire and drab.

as they are currently losing to salzburg i ask: how do you solve a problem like juventus? (and now i'm gonna go to work to think about it instead of have an answer on herre)

dunno krasic just scored, he might be the solution to your problem

What hours do you keep, man?! I get worried, y'know, turning on in the morning to find random musings about this or Chesney all through the small hours.

ummm, ridiculous ones. basically have to stay awake at night half the week and then during the day for the rest of it - will become worse if this internship pulls through but oh well.

having finally had that onset of unemployment insomnia I feel some sense of solidarity in seeing you post at like 6am.

krasic is trying way too hard to become the next nedved imo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEnTRlDaQUM&feature=player_embedded

To bite the style of FM10, Napoli vs AC Milan proved to be a fiery affair with a sending off and a bench clearing brawl (well handbags tbf) Milan won 2-1 but Lavezzi's goal for Napoli was a bit special. See around the 4:41 mark below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE0You6t-2k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V2YGsNBpHc
<3

aw

<3 antonio.

someone jumping the gun a little here, he's "reborn" cos he has some of the best players in the world almost through the NOTORIOUSLY DIFFICULT AND EXCITING CL group stages and has them second to Lazio. WELL DONE.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/9140414.stm

Rome derby is on a knife-edge right now. 1-0 to Roma, end-to-end, ten mins left.

both sides have hit the bar in the last five mins now

Each team hit the posts in the past 5mns. One thing I don't understand though is how in a derby the bottom of the stands can be that empty?

oops yeah, sorry hit the bar, no the posts)

and another penalty!

clear penalty I thought

2-0. Yeah, what's with the empty seats?

tuned in for keystone kops + penalty - hopefully there will now be a fight

yeah, agree. Lazio should probably have had one too imo, for when Riise held back whoever it was that could have tapped the ball in the goal a few mns ago.

FEAR OF BEING STABBED? It's not like its hard to wonder why people don't turn up to this game ppl.

Do I- a) watch this game on tv b) get stabbed for being a lazio fan and yet a nazi?

yet *not* a nazi

Well the 10 people in the stands are sure not to be stabbed, they're 50ft apart! i understand that this is a rivalry that could get nasty, but the empty stands are those in the center of the field, next to the sidelines. i don't know how it is in Italy, but in France those are usually the most peaceful parts of the stadium.

France doesn't have a nazi ultra problem afaik?

Hell our European thread two years ago was called lazio fans are the most disgusting savages in all the world imo: Non-EPL/SPL/MSL football thread 2008/09 for a reason

Yeah, I remember that thread.
As for France, this season PSG is playing in an almost empty stadium because the owners decided not to sell any season tickets as their fans are too violent (well not all of them obv, just a tiny subsection of them). I think there have been 3 deaths in the past 2 or 3 yrs because of violence in or around the stadium. So maybe not nazi ultras but there is violence in French football. In the past years didn't stop the Parc des Princes from being full, especially when PSG played Marseille.

;_; football fans are disgusting savages

both curvas seem to have been pretty crowded, and that would be where the ultras are. the empty seats are probably a lot in protest to (or just a result of) the new ticket regulations, tessera del tifoso

Could you tell us more about those ticket regulations? And usually, would the stadium be packed for a game like that, or do people try to avoid it because they fear it'll get too violent?

as i understand it you need a certain id card to be able to buy a ticket. and this id only lets you buy tickets for your team, to keep lazio fans from ending up stabbing people in the the roma stands for example. the thing is though that that the violence usually takes place outside the arenas, therefore it probably won't be able to change much. and in the same process it excludes casual supporters who might not feel the price of being watched by the government (which basically becomes the case) is worth it.

OK thks. That sounds like what PSG are doing to stop violence in their stadium.

the main concern in italy though isn't the violence but the declining attendance figures, and this seems to be a lazy solution compared to upgrading the stadiums for instance.

Wait what? They're making it more annoying to buy tickets with that special id thing as a countermeasure to declining attendance figures? Also, do you have any idea what happens if a tourist happens to be in Rome and wants to see a Roma game? Does he need to get that id?

zlatan vs onyewu, full courtroom sketchup, courtesy gazzetta dello sport

http://i51.tinypic.com/2h6c8m0.jpg

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/9173475.stm

I was watching Juve-Roma last night - it was alright. Aquilani not exactly running the show in midfield, but certainly competent. He looks a little hangdog to me though, not sure he'd be making much difference to where pool find themselves these days.

milan derby on right now. rafa gambled and put materazzi on to handle ibra, 5 minutes in and poor matrix caused a penalty that zlatan obviously scored

:)

rafa out.

my stream is AWFUL but hey

for about 5 minutes i thought my 'EN' commentary was lying but it turns out they are just scottish. should have just scored on that pato (i think) counter

fucking hell! if only robinho tried going for that, would be #2. zlatan is just terrifying the balls off inter.

Ugh that commentator's awful. I'm always a bit surprised to see Seedorf playing - I keep thinking he retired years ago. It's a wonder he can take his fellow pundits' views seriously.

gattuso : yellow card : shockah

i know ac have 'retired' like half their numbers but i just don't like players wearing like #70 or #80 or whatever, seems too nfl.

srs, <3 zlatan more than my mother.

pato not playing but robinho's looking pretty sharp. inter are really awful though, basically a one man team atm

where is eto'o? is he actually playing and i just haven't noticed him?

oh ok my stream is bad enough that when the commentator referred to the brazilian down the right, i couldn't really tell whether it was a white or a black dude.

Why hasn't swoopycam made it to the BEPL?

my stream died, what's the score?

Still 1-0. Good work by Pandev getting Abate sent off a minute ago.

I'm certain the commentator just said Roberto Baggio was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last weekend. I hadn't heard about that?

Ibra taking Materazzi out quite beautifully right now.

How is Rafa meant to work there with a chairman like Morratti? Clearly undermining him and his abilities again.

Honestly, Ibra taking out Materazzi is still making me smile - Ibra's breaking, Materazzi comes scything in to stop him, Ibra sees him coming and hurdles it, but somehow also manages to dip enough to connect sweetly, elbow-to-jaw. Just about the first great thing I've seen him do on the pitch.

ha yes that was one of the top moments of the game. also enjoyed this quote: When asked if Benitez is the right man to give Inter a spark, Moratti said: “Yes, he is in a position to do so, certainly."

Samuel Eto'o has been banned for three Serie A matches for headbutting defender Bostjan Cesar in the chest during Chievo's 2-1 win on Sunday

Italy crapped out in Europa league,coefficient taking a doing.

Working tomorrow so liveblogging nazio v inter tonight and drinking some beers. Rooting for lazio (i know!)

Liveblogging here? And does this mean Italy loses its fourth CL slot now for sure?

Think they already had gone behind Germany so yeah,dunno when it comes into effect though. France not too far behind.

Yeah liveblogging here. If it's shit there might not be much in the way of blogging.

rafa out

Ended up missing this,went to multiple pubs with ESPN who weren't showing it. Rafa is singlehandedly killing inter hegemony.

You'd've liveblogged from the pub, on a Friday night, if they had been?

tbh i wasn't really paying attention to it and i guess he's in a bit of a tight spot considering the injuries and headbutting outbursts, but yeah you're right, jim. his idea of making a mark on the team appears to be simply to play any youth players he can find and it's not working.

Easy would've live blogged in the pub. When I'm in a fresh romantic entanglement I spend forever texting,fitba has more permanence.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/10/italy/2010/12/16/2264642/sampdoria-star-antonio-cassano-agrees-sensational-milan-move

!!

they need more disruptive strikers

best fucking news ever in the history of the sport. zlatan and cassano up front together? did i die and go to heaven? i have been p ill this week

and r10
and robinho
and pato
and pippo rip

r10 will have gone by then :(

2007 iirc
still here in spirit tho

milan v. roma looking a tasty fixture at quarter to, when barca have killed off espanyol

true

watching messi, even off the ball, is amazing. his speed just to go track a player the other side of the field, the way he just 'walks' in between defenders... blimey he's good

ooops rong thread

cassano to milan is a heartbreaker. knew it was over for him at samp, but just is becoming more real as more concrete rumours come out. cassano and pazzini were a match made in heaven. 'A Sampdoria without Antonio Cassano is like watching a Western movie without John Wayne' :'(

oh come on, you can't honestly say you are excited by the prospect of the first stories involving cass, robinho and silvio b on a night out?

1/16th genovese.

saw a guy in the pub last night and thought "jesus, he looks so much like enzo francescoli". said as much to my pal, who said, "don't know who that is, but he looks just like diego milito". enzo f and diego m are fucking dopplegangers. it appears i'm far from the first person to notice.

http://www.taringa.net/posts/imagenes/3063638/enzo-francescoli-y-diego-milito-_son-parecidos_.html

http://sonparientes.blogspot.com/2009/02/diego-milito-enzo-francescoli.html

numerous facebook groups etc.

Adriano just did a Marseille turn *through* two players and hit a *perfect* pin point 50 yard pass without lifting his head up. fatty adriano! freaking mindblowing move that, thudd better be taking notes.

it's not even a joke, the man is incredibly fat.

game's been slower than i'd guessed. roma basically playing 9 men behind the ball + letting menez do whatever he feels. zlatan's not been any good either.

when was the last time milan had a great attacking playmaker? they need modric, not kpb

kaka I suppose

he was more a #8 than a #10 though? like if you have a front three of zlatan, pato and robinho, with a screen of gattuso and ambrosini, all you need to do is stick in a proper playmaker and you've got a killer line-up. and instead they've got a 70 year old seedorf and kbp getting in each others way.

they had gourcuff for a while til they fucked that up

still got pirlo tho

modric not exactly a #10 these days

gourcuff himself didnt help

patsy.jpg

what's gourcuff up to nowadays. remember that wonder goal last season(?). magic.

*that* goal was from two seasons ago. last season he kinda sulked and saw his team go from champions to sixth; this summer he took a big money jump to looking a bit pointless at lyon when they already have pjanic

rip milan

i cant tell if i like boriellos hair or not. either way, goalol! shocking defending in a game of triffic defending. bet gattuso is pissed he didnt put him in an ambulance when he had a chance

enjoying adriano celebrations

a late career revive from adriano would be wonderful

everyone likes a back from the brink narrative, or a 'sixteen stone bon vivants can play high level football' narrative

ibby ;_;

better play better than this in feb son, you've got some spuds to embarrass.

riise is a good player

those liverpool cunts who wanted rid have ended up with what they deserve

carol konchesky knows it

milan losing 1-0 at home w/ 15mins to go and roma still looking more dangerous

jesus fatdriano is massive

sixteen stone isn't even a joke in his case

he's gotta be near or even above that

did well to last nearly 90m

zloltan ibrahlmaovmic

zloltan ibrahlmaovmic

this dude's a poet

if u say so

rmde at milan

i haven't rly slept 4 2 days, am impreshnable

nice of u to notice, altho a typo would also be vmic in my case

strange lethargy about milan near the end, understandable in the case of the older players but not so excusable with the likes of robinho, ibrahimovic, abate, boateng

it reminded me a lot of the same fixture a few years ago where roma won 0-1 thanks to a late goal, it was one of the last games i saw in which maldini played full-back and he could hardly move by the end

get a chatroom guys

that's just lj being nice

looks like there's still room for calcio discush

rmde at yr pique

as opposed to piqué who won't be discussed itt until lúcio gives up the ghost and massimo moratti has to get his chequebook out

do u two use internet connection sharing

so damn sad that sokratis papastathopoulos isn't close to making the grade at milan

genoa derby called off :( that was my plan for this evening's entertainment. otoh madrid vs sevilla at 8 to watch instead. also i had bet 50 quid on pazzini scoring any time, which maybe wasn't completely wise, so thankfully that will now be voided.

ha that was asking for trouble

i generally never put bets of more than a fiver or a tenner but then sometimes i get a rush of blood to the head and put a 50 on, usually succesfully for whatever reason, though i really doubt that bet would've been. game had 0-0 written all over it.

Unilaterally changed the thread title to reflect the post-Rafa era and so we don't have to continue reading the phrase "and our favourite manager Rafael 'Ooooh Zonal Marking' Benny Tiz" for the rest of the season.

shame

Cassano got an assist on his first start for Milan.

What have you changed it to? Looks identical to me.

wonderful and weird game just ended 4-4 in milan thanks to a late goal by ibra. with cassano onboard it's pretty clear they're gonna win the whole thing now.

heads up for napoli - juve, starting any minute. could be crazy

thanks, I may join you

krasic diving like a poohead

god juventus have got luca toni, and i thought they couldn't get any more shit/boring

fuck juve, hope napoli kick them comatose

they were aiming for dzeko and benzema, ended up with toni. and to make things even worse they're pairing him up with amauri

they are the only 'big' team in europe who insist on playing that sort of 80s 4-4-2 with useless lumbering forwards

tbf delneri did pretty well with the same tactics last year but then he had cassano instead of pepe

fabulous brace of headers

and a third! Fantastic!

and they were all different kinds of headers too, he's really got some range.

The celebration for the second with all the fans running around the perimeter towards him was pretty special.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qnWEa9m9no

goal of the decade, ruined by a crap finish :(

good penalty shout

I see that Christian Vieri has unretired and is now playing in Brazil. I make that fifteen clubs in twenty years, who can do better than that?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutz_Pfannenstiel

Pfannenstiel is mostly famous for having played for 25 different clubs all around the world during his career,[5] including stints in Germany, England, New Zealand,[6] Singapore, USA, Brazil, South Africa, Finland, Malaysia, Malta, Belgium, Canada, Namibia, Norway and Albania.[7] After signing for Hermann Aichinger in Brazil, he has played for clubs in all six inhabited continents.[8]

<3 that guy, that's the way to live your life if you're a footballer of middling talent. how about other people who could be described as 'top players', though?

Andy "Andrew" Cole played for 13 or 14. Outstanding.

I can't think of anyone high profile with more clubs than Vieri.

baggio maybe?

Romario has racked up a fair few.

Van Bommel and Gattuso in the same midfield

SOMEBODY GONNA DIE

that swedish dude from the fifties who never misplaced a pass for milan in about eight years, if he hasn't already

Inter after pazzini,so samp maybe will lose Cassano and pazzini in one transfer window.carpet bomb Milan.fuck the dome.

pazzini scored twice and won the penalty that eto'o got the winner from in a 3-2 win for inter against palermo. he's a great player.

van bommel got sent off in his first game iirc?

edinson cavani hat-trick.

loving the chileans running things at udinese as well, surprised alexis hasn't been snapped up this window, sure the summer will have some wild bid for him.

watch these beautiful chilean bastards combine to sink the old lady:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa_9Ls1zvvY

i keep reading over and over that sanchez at united in the summer is a given deal but i'm not sure what the source is on that. but yeah no way he's staying at udinese.

juve desparately paid 18m for matri and shipped amauri of for free. basically everyone involved with that club seems to be useless at what they do.

otm

cassano

rip claudio heaven needed a boring fucker who wasnt very good at managing big clubs

our favorite chileans demolishing palermo away atm, 0-5 after 43 minutes

:D 0-7. 4 alexis sanchez goals!

stepover on the one on one. http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/palermo-udinese-serie-feb-2011-8617982/ <3

milan 0 - 0 napoli h/t

booking for pato, decent bodycheck

stepover on the one on one

this was fucking awesome

toto di natale, secret best player

The Milan derby is worth watching right now. 1-0 to Milan after 40 mins, extremely open game.

Wonderful derby. Eto'o missed a sitter though, offside or not.

2-0 looked offside, though I didn't see a good angle.

Was a smidgeon behind the ball, probably level with the last man anyway. Great game, Seedorf's become conspicuously amazing in the last few mins.

terrific game this. seedorf would still be a great player if you always played with one man more.

Van Pummel drives me nuts. He has the ability to play clean but seems to relish being cheap.

commentator said this is zanetti's 35th consecutive derby. that's just ridiculous.

Cassano wins it single-handedly

looool cassano

hahaha! and a red card

that game had everything

except zlatan

couple of interesting games today. napoli (3rd) - lazio (5th) is on right now. allegedly napoli president de laurentiis slapped lazio's claudio lotito in the face during a dinner earlier this week. so there's that.

later tonight roma - juventus.

omg this puts last night's derby to shame. cavani hattrick makes it 4-3 in the 88th minute. reja sent off. and now there's a proper fight going down. game of the year.

description makes me want

that napoli game sounds so sweet, why was it on so early?

Thanks for notifying us in the 88th minute, man.

napoli (3rd) - lazio (5th) is on right now

Hm, not covering myself in glory there.

many will have wanted to watch it

to have watched it?

they will have to be of watched it

napoli udinese

sanchez is out :(

napoli go 3 points behind milan if they win.

Inter lost last night iirc and are finally out of it

yup, 8 points adrift. which i am very pleased about.

sampdoria are going to get relegated. which means if i finally go to genoa to watch them next season i might be watching some team i've never heard of :/

from finishing 4th to sitting 3rd bottom :/

mauricio isla injured now. disaster for chile.

well this quasi-chilean watching this game anyway.

gokhan inler just scored a peach.

twa nil udinese. another good goal. german denis.

sampdoria lost in the 96th minute of the genoa derby. serie b beckons. so my two european football trips of next season will be second division.

St Pauli?

ding ding :)

altho also considering rayo of madrid, who will be la liga. so i can have some top-flight.

Last time they were in La Liga their sponsor was just a big picture of a bee, which made for one of my favourite strips ever.

they've just changed owner iirc. no bees involved with either party unfortunately. they have a far left ultra group called the bukaneros, which makes them more interesting to me than the other two in madrid (tho my, somewhat confusingly communist, madrid supporting wee cousin probably won't be into it).

oh also milan won their 18th scudetto on saturday night. 0-0 wi roma. boring as fuck match. they won't care. ibra 8 leagues in a row (tho 2 juve been rescinded, they may be reinstated and they weren't his fault).

http://mit.zenfs.com/210/2011/05/x610-150.jpg

just in case that didn't make any sense:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgyJR-1LYvE

anyway, still the CL place to play for, with both rome teams and udinese within reach. i'd like to see udinese finish 4th, maybe that could keep sanchez, isla and inler at the club at least one more year.

That said, they have been doing well off the pitch, so much so that last season they made more money than any other club in Serie A, though a couple of points need to be emphasised before people get too excited. First, the profit after tax was still fairly low at just €4.4 million; second, only four teams actually recorded a profit, the others being Catania €2.5 million, Livorno €1.8 million and Napoli €0.3 million, while the other 16 clubs all made losses.

The reality is that Italian football continues to be in a financial mess with clubs living well above their means, as they have been hit by falling crowds, accusations of corruption and occasional violence and racism, so being the most profitable club in Serie A is only really equivalent to being the tallest man in Lilliput. Despite the ever increasing revenue, largely driven by television money, which for the first time last season surpassed €1.7 billion, the combined losses of the 20 teams in Serie A amounted to €193.5 million and would have been even higher without the hefty €381.5 million profits on player sales, including the exceptional transfers of Ibrahimovic and Kaka to Spain.

re: television money

Juventus President Andrea Agnelli was even more severe with the Lega decision.

“There are five clubs who between them represent 75 per cent of the fans, but are forced to accept the decisions of the other teams. We have 3m people in our potential audience compared to the 300,000 of the other 15.

“We will appeal to the CONI (Italian Olympic Committee) to ensure the development of this sport. We are united with the other four big clubs and could leave the Lega.

“Does this mean possibly playing in the Premier League or French Ligue 1? We are evaluating all options.”

A hoy hoy's post is c+p'ed from here, in case it's not obvious. I'm compelled to point that out because the original article's pretty good and worth reading, but also because ahh deserves to be exposed - this marks a new low imo.

lol yeah i meant to post a follow up but got distracted.

only just seen this..milan scudetto celebrations kevin prince boateng does his MJ impression
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKjS5Og8TEg

I posted it on the "WTF" thread along with a clip of Massimo Oddo doing a drunken but speedy lap of the Olympic stadium with shampoo in his hair. Was really impressed with KPB, I figured he'd just do a 10-second goal-celebration sort of homage.

and the ongoing tradition of hilarious milan celebrations continues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqOM58xT9zY&feature=player_embedded