Serie A and La Liga Preview

Serie A Title Race

Inter Milan

Inter are looking for their 5th successive Seria A title this season and few would bet against them. Normally, the loss of a world-class centre forward like Zlatan Ibrahimovic would shatter a club but in return Inter have signed Europe’s top striker last season in Samuel Eto’o.

Possibly the best deal in history, Inter recieved £45 million plus Eto’o for Ibrahimovic. Given that Ibrahimovic is only a year younger and is not neccessarily a better striker, Inter must have snapped Barcelona’s hands off to secure the deal.

With possibly the most talented manager in the world in Jose Mourinho, Inter will feel they have the fire power to win the league and will also be desperate to give a great showing in the Champions League. Inter’s main aim will be to win in Europe and owner Massimo Moratti has repeatedly reminded everyone of this for a few years now.

Inter’s strength will be the depth of their squad, the likes of :

Vieira, Suazo, Cambiasso, Stankovic, Quaresma, Zanetti, Cordoba, Samuel, Materazzi, Chivu, Militio, Mancini, Muntari, Maicon, Cesar, Toldo, Motta and Eto’o, will strike fear into any opponents next season. Not many clubs can boast 18 such well known established players in their squads, if any.

Inter need to deliver this season especially in Europe because although they have won 4 Scudettos in a row, the black and blue have always struggled in the massive European games.

Prediction 1st

A.C. Milan

The underachievers of recent years have lost their talismanic manager Carlo Ancelotti to Chelsea. Having appointed the inexperienced Brazilian club legend Leonardo as the new boss, Milan have taken a risk but maybe one they feel they have to take.

It will take a monumental effort to unsurp Inter and selling Kaka has all but ended any real hopes that they may do so. Kaka was sold for £56 million and whilst the money will be great for the club, the loss of the player could be detrimental to their title chances, Kaka’s apparent replacement Klaas Jan Huntelaar is not a player in the similar mould. Huntelaar will score goals but does not have the same ability to drive teams forward and win matches that Kaka was so adored for.

An aging squad last season has just got a year older, Milan seem in decline and owner Silvio Berlusconi has conceded that the club cannot compete financially will the biggest clubs in Europe anymore.

Prediction 4th

Roma and Juventus should be stronger this year and should fight it out for 2nd and 3rd places.

La Liga Title Race

Real Madrid for thoughts on Real in the new season please visit this link on an article written last week https://sportsportsport.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/madrid-the-real-deal/

Barcelona

The most beautiful football team in the world have signed Zlatan Ibrahimovic this summer. The forward is a welcome addition to the squad and his nonchelant style should suit the free flowing creative football of the Nou Camp.

The loss of Eto’o however may be bigger than expected. To sell a 35 goal a season player is always a risk, no matter who you bring in. Whilst Mourinho has procliamed ‘Ibra’ to be the best player in the world, there are a few who prefer Eto’o and actually feel he is the better forward.

Regardless of this Barcelona still have a squad capable of winning the league. Guardiola has kept his squad together and the likes of Henry, Xavi, Iniesta and of course wonderkid Messi should help Barca secure another title. Real will take time to gel their squad and so will need a season or two before they can become world beaters.

Prediction Barcelona 1st, Real Madrid 2nd

Atletico Madrid have done very well to hold onto Diego Forlan and Sergio Aguero and as such should take 3rd place. The other team to have done well to hold their squad together is Valencia, with Silva and Villa still there they should finish 4th.

Madrid the Real deal?

Real Madrid ‘the galacticos’ have had a bit of a renaissance this summer. After a few years out in the cold with little European success or extravagant spending, re-instated president Florentino Perez has spent a cool £220 million on players in the last few weeks.

The club that do not tolerate any failure appear to have lost all sense of sanity in a desperate attempt to dominate world football again. Having smashed the world transfer record in signing Cristiano Ronaldo for £80 million, they have once again helped create a frenzied transfer market whereby the world’s top players are no longer affordable to most of the big clubs. Real have also paid around £60 million for Kaka, £40 million for Karim Benzema and £30 million for Xavi Alonso.

The only other club capable of this kind of spending at the moment are Manchester City but even their £32 million British transfer record signing of Robinho now looks like pocket money. So in spending big Real have alienated the world’s top clubs and hence not many big name signings have happened elsewhere this summer.

Usually frequent spenders Manchester United and Chelsea have been relatively quiet in the transfer market and have not made any big name signings whatsoever. Content to keep the core of their squads for this season Europe’s best appear to be relying on Madrid’s plan of world domination falling flat on it’s face.

So will it? Well the apparent second coming of ‘the galacticos’ again sees the worlds top players all forced into one team and expected to instantly perform. However, this is no easy task and the first group of ‘galacticos’ failed in setting the world alight. With players such as Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo, Casillas, Raul and Roberto Carlos playing in their prime Real Madrid only won the European Cup once and the league title twice. Hardly awe inspiring stuff but admittedly better than most of clubs would settle for.

One of the problems with a team full of world class ‘stars’ is that they all want to be the stand out player. Rather than having eleven players gelling together to play the greatest football ever seen, there were eleven individuals on the pitch playing for themselves and not the team. Hence, free flowing football can not exist because the understanding and communication between players is not high enough.

So why will it be different this time around? It seems that ‘the galacticos’ did not work and may prove to be a failure again. Although important, money is not everything in football, more important factors such as a great manager and a great team of hard working players who love the club need to exist for a club to prosper.

Manager Manuel Pellegrini did well at Villareal. Pellegrini revitalized the team after acouple of poor seasons and has worked well on a limited budget to get Villareal into the Champions League year after year. The step up to Real Madrid though is huge. At Real the pressure will be immense and the need for instant results is always a hard burden to bare. Pellegrini has little experience of dealing with the primadonna types that he will have to control day in day out at Madrid. However, he has built up good teams who play for each other and if he can implement this at Real then he can be a huge success.

So to the players and to analyze where they might improve from the last bunch.

Cristiano Ronaldo is the biggest signing of the summer and probably of history. The only saving grace being that the deal was tied up very quickly in early summer and so did not drag on in the usual hysteria the surrounds such deals. Ronaldo is very much an individual, he likes to score and create out of nothing, rarely will he pass the ball if a shooting opportunity arises. Very much a primaddona type, however, it seems to work for him and this did not negatively effect his form for Manchester United or the teams results. If Real get to the level that Manchester United have been these past three years with Ronaldo then they will be more than satisfied.

Another world footballer of the year Kaka has also signed for Madrid as part of Perez’s revolution. A well respected man, Kaka attributes all of his success in life to God and this humble way of life means that he is far from the primaddona type his peers so easily become. Kaka is an ideal signing for a side looking to gel well and play together as a team.

Lesser key signing Benzema is probably the most unknown player who Real have paid big money for this summer. Benzema is a world class forward who is expected to be the next Henry in France. However, he is yet to prove his talent at the highest level and this will prove a massive step up from the recently tame French league. Whilst goals against Manchester United in the Champions League have helped secure his fame on the world stage, it is yet to be seen how he will perform for Real Madrid.

Finally, Xavi Alonso who made the long awaited move from Liverpool may well be the last piece in the jig-saw. Again, very much a team player who is not greedy, Alonso may adapt well to the team in the same way that he had an instant impact when he moved to Liverpool.

So, maybe the new ‘galacticos’ have a better chance of success then the old ones did. However, I don’t think the rest of Europe will be quaking in their boots yet. Real will need to prove themselves on the pitch rather than in the transfer market to gain the kind of respect they so desperately crave and with the standard of Europe’s other clubs at the moment success is certainly no guarantee.

Champions League or English Premier League?

Kings of Europe or Kings of England?

It sounds like a straightforward question. Surely to be the champions of Europe is a greater achievement than being the best in England, just because of the sheer number of extra teams in the whole of Europe compared with England.

So basic statistics suggests that it is a far bigger honour to be the Kings of Europe. But as most people in sociology will tell you, statistics are not everything.

Is it really tougher to win the Champions League? Perhaps, one of the best arguments for the Premier League being tougher to win is that in 2005 Liverpool won the Champions League, in the same season they finished a lowly fifth in the Premier League, even below their main rivals Everton.

If the Champions League is so tough to win then how on earth did the fifth best side in England win it? Maybe, another point to add to this one is that in two-legged cup competitions it is far more likely that a ‘weaker’ team can beat a ‘better’ club. The nature of cups is so that a fortunate goal here or there could end up winning you the competition. Something that is unlikely in a League where over the 38 games of a season luck pretty much evens itself out.

It is very rare to hear anybody say that a team who wins a league did not deserve it. Even the most biased of fans have to admit that when a team wins a league it is a great achievement which is unlikely to be ‘lucky’.

Is the Champions League competition tougher in terms of teams than in the Premier League? In some ways ‘yes’ and in some ways ‘no’.

Yes, it is tougher in the way that all of Europe’s elite are competing to win the trophy. The likes of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan are far better than the average Premier League side. But on the flip side of this teams such as Anorthosis, CFR Cluj, Bate Borisov and Aalborg are arguably far weaker than the average Premier League opposition.

Would fans prefer to win the English Premier League or the Champions League? This is a difficult question to answer, one that was perhaps far easier to answer four or five years ago. Back then, English Premier League teams did not dominate Europe’s top club competition in the way that they do now. It seems that if the league is weaker then it is more of an achievement to win in Europe.

However, this has all changed over the past few seasons and was proven by last season when English teams were only knocked out of the Champions League by other English teams. After an all English final and another season where so far all four English clubs have made the quarter-finals it is hard to deny that the EPL is Europe’s toughest to win league. As a result because it is played over 38 games it seems a much fairer way of assessing which English team is the best. If your team wins the EPL there are more reasons to brag than if your team wins the Champions League.

All in all it is very hard to assess which competition is the greater to win in terms of achievement and prestige. People such as Roman Abramovich and Massimo Moratti would far sooner see their teams Chelsea and Inter Milan win the Champions League than their own Leagues. However, the die hard fans of such clubs especially in England probably would rather see their side lift the league trophy, knowing what a great achievement this really is.

Yes, the Champions League is very tough to win but there is a greater luck factor involved, would Porto really have won the EPL the league they won the Champions League? Of course it is nice to beat teams such as Barcelona and Real Madrid rather than hammering Wigan or Fulham but until a season long league is created between Europe’s elite it is difficult to conclude that the Champions League is harder to win than the EPL.

The Problem With Manchester City

So you are a club who lose your last game of the season 8-1 against Middlesborough. Your manager has just been fired despite getting the club into Europe for the first time in five years. The club’s owner, who may be arrested for corruption, has expressed a desire to sell your club and your captain has voiced huge discontent at the whole situation.

This was Manchester City seven months ago. The club was in disarray and the future looked bleak for their fans.

When highly regaurded young manager Mark Hughes was hired the mood was lifted slightly. But there were still rumblings from skeptical fans who thought Hughes would not encourage his players to play good football. Hughes is a manager who was focused on physical aggression and assertiveness from his players during his time at Blackburn.

There was some light at the end of the tunnel though when Abu Dhabi United Group Investment and Development Limited completed a takeover of Manchester City. This instantly made the club the richest in the world. Sadly, the deal was made on the transfer deadline day and the club only managed to sign one player Robinho who was previously on the verge of signing for Chelsea. This was a huge coup for the club and broke the British transfer record costing £32.5 million.

So, with a renewed confidence around the club the new season started but Man City have not set the league alight. They are currently hovering just two points above the relegation zone with nearly half the season gone.

With the transfer window opening again at the start of next month the press and the fans are already buzzing with transfer rumours. Sky Sports News reported yesterday that Man City had offered £128 million for Real Madrid’s goalkeeper Iker Casillas. A ludicrous amount perhaps but it is certainly money that the owners can afford to spend in abundance.

The problem is that Man City do not have the pulling power of the big four. They will struggle to attract the huge names they have been linked with such as Kaka and Messi because of the lower prestige of the club. Okay, they did sign Robinho from under Chelsea’s nose but the fact remains that money is not everything in football. Yes, it counts for a lot but Casillas has apparently rejected Man City and many of the big players will follow suit. The club is still considered to be a smaller club than the Premier League’s famous ‘big four’ of Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal. It is unlikely that players will reject the chance to play in the Champions League to play in the UEFA Cup for City.

It is hard to see how they can break into and establish themselves in the top four with such a high standard of football being set by the ‘big four’. The Man City revolution is not likely to have a big impact for a few seasons yet.

So maybe City should set their sights lower down. The huge European clubs will not sell their best players. Perhaps the likes of Lazio’s Pandev and Weder Bremen’s Diego should be main and realistic targets. It seems a waste of time chasing after players at the top clubs such as Barcelona and AC Milan but there are still great players with huge potential playing for smaller European Clubs.

Who knows if the owners are willing to be patient. Maybe they will get fed up without Champions League football and will sell the club on again. Only time will tell, but City fans should be a bit cautious in their glee. The future may not be as bright as the fans hope, they may not be challenging for the title even with the huge cash injection.

Are A.C. Milan The New Real Madrid?

A few years ago Real Madrid were the talk of the football world. Along with the galacticos Zidane, Figo, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldo (the original one!) and Raul the team seemed unbeatable.

Real Madrid had spent a record amount on players splashing out a cool 76 million euros on Zidane. This is the team who won the most European Cups in history. Despite all of this and even with an amazing team of stars they still underachieved. They just could not manage to dominate European football the way they were expected to.  The team was far from unbeatable and they were known around the world as a failure. The lack of passion and performance from their ageing Galacticos was plain to see.

Pundits commented that this proved once and for all that no matter how good your team is, if the players do not gel together then they can never be the best team in the world. It didn’t matter how many stars Real Madrid had, their lack of leadership and teamwork cost them and hence they have gone over 5 years without winning the European Cup.

It appears though that despite the problems of the mid naughties Real Madrid, a couple of years on A.C. Milan have started following down the same path.

It all started a couple of seasons ago when Milan signed Ronaldo from Real Madrid. Ronaldo was in the twighlight of an admittedly impressive career. However, he would soon get injured after having a very miniamal impact on the team, leaving for South America to finish off his playing days back home. This was a poor signing by anyones estimations, perhaps forgivable because it could have been a risk worth taking had Ronaldo found his old form.

This should have been a clear warning that signing great players towards the end of their careers was a mistake, especially for a team who are looking to rule world football.

Yet this season Milan have not changed their transfer policy and have signed another ageing Brazilian star in Ronaldinho. Now, whether or not Ronaldinho will turn out to be a great signing is yet to be seen and with strong rumours circulating that Milan are on the cusp of signing Beckham it seems that the club are happy to go for the ‘golden oldies’.

With a squad full of high profile over 30 year olds such as Shevchenko, Pirlo, Ambrosini, Zambrotta, Nesta, Seedorf, Inzaghi and Gattuso the fans of Milan must be getting concerned that come two or three years time their team will lose about half of its squad. The future just does not look that promising for this illustrious club at the moment.

The main problem is that A.C Milan have not qualified for the champions league this year and aren’t leading what appears to be another weak Serie A this season. This is bad news for a team who won the Champions League only 18 months ago. So why haven’t Milan adopted an Arsenal like approach and tried to sign quality youngsters rather than players who are past their prime?

The answer is not clear but perhaps part of the reasoning behind it is that high profile signings create more publicity and may help boss Ancelloti to hold onto his job by getting the fans behind the team. Milan have fallen from grace and for them to finish 5th in the Serie A last year was tragic. Ancelloti was not sacked however so perhaps his transfer policy is still convincing the fans and the board that Milan can be a force under his guidance within the next couple of years.

All is not lost for A.C. Milan, they still remain one of the richest clubs in the world and do have some potential within their younger players, they have already brought through Kaka who has become one of the best players in the world and with young Brazilian Alexandre Pato a particually exciting young player it may not be as bleak a future as one may think. Only time will tell as to whether A.C Milan will turn their fortunes around but they will have to improve if they want to be considered as the world’s best team in the near future.  If they continue going down the road that they are currently travelling around then they may be labelled as the new ‘Real Madrid’.