Re: Premiership - La Liga - Serie A 05-06
ManU beat New Castle with 2-0.
Nistelrooy scored in 3rd consecutive match. He is definitely the man for ManU this season.
Re: Premiership - La Liga - Serie A 05-06
I agree with you regarding AC milan but I also think that Inter has a great chance this season. They have got two quality singins from Real madrid in Figo and Scolari and with worldcup looming both will try to prove their worth in national teams.
Regarding Barca and Real. I think it will be a lot closer than last season and I back Real to win because Robinho is a class act. Owen is a great finisher but Robinho is more of a complete player and Real will benefit from him a great deal.
Re: Premiership - La Liga - Serie A 05-06
He might be but Chelsea IS the team to beat this season and they have made the best possible start. I expect teams to finish in this order. Chelsea, ManU, Liverpool. Tottenham and Arsenal.
Re: Premiership - La Liga - Serie A 05-06
La Liga season kicked off this weekend as well as Serie A.
Barca dropped points against a newly promoted team Alaves while Real madrid won against cadiz. Robinho totally changedthe complexion whenhe came out for last half an hour.
Milan also dropped points while Adriano scored a hattrick in an Inter win.
Re: Premiership - La Liga - Serie A 05-06
With Nistelrooy fit for most of the season:
- Man Utd
- Chelsea/Arsenal
- Chelsea/Arsenal
Liverpool are just a team getting support from Uefa by crying in front of media.
Re: Premiership - La Liga - Serie A 05-06
^ so you mean to say ManUtd are a one man team?
Re: Premiership - La Liga - Serie A 05-06
^ I mean Nistelrooy is B*orn to Score (BTS)* and end-up as the Ultimate Top Scorer (UTS) in competetions.
Re: Premiership - La Liga - Serie A 05-06
Robinho looked absolutely sublime on his debut. His touches were immaculate and showed no fear going at defenders. What ever happened to debut nerves? Theres no such as luck watching him play, it was clear for all to see his touches were natural. This guy is gonna be the biggest star in years.
Re: Premiership - La Liga - Serie A 05-06
Soccer can never be one man show. It is a team work and a good combination of at least 3-4 players sometimes guarantees success. If each and every player plays his part in the game then that is "total football".
In soccer, one-man-show often means that the game revolves around a single player. In this sense, the biggest one-man-show was Napoli with Maradona. Similarly the historical, classic side of Milan (88-94) was dependant on a Dutch trio (Gullit, Van Basten, Frank) and the game was always centered on the best striker in the game, Marco Van Basten.
Present day, the only team in my opinion that can be regarded as a one-man-show is Juventus. Their game depended heavily on Del Pierro for so many seasons. Still for Juve, Pierro is a guarantee for Italian title. During past seasons, Milan often were leading the Serie A table, and then Pierro started scoring or creating goals in every game and Juve took maximum points in their final games and Milan slipped occasionally, thus losing the title to Juve.
Barca can also be said heavily dependant on Ronaldhino.
Re: Premiership - La Liga - Serie A 05-06
I am not sure if you followed last two serie a seasons. Del Piero has been a shadow of his past self and rarely started last season but juve still won. Their spine has been Nedved. So your information used to be true but now its outdated.
Re: Premiership - La Liga - Serie A 05-06
You are right here in some sense, Juve now not depends much on Del pierro, as they did in past seasons. Pierro is still their lead man, however, as the only “golden boy” of modern Italian soccer. I am a big fan of Milan, but Del Pierro is the only reason I have to favor Juve.
Last season it was once again Milan who were leading and then they slipped and Juve won the tiltle. Del pierro was there at the end of the season to make the difference I was talking about.
Nedved is improving every season. Nedved will definitely be their most influential player in near future.
Re: Premiership - La Liga - Serie A 05-06
Let me correct you once again :-/
Nedved will most probably retire at the end of the season. He cannot improve much now. He already is in a class of his own.
Last season Juve won the title NOT because of Del Piero; heck he didnt even play much at the end he was about to leave Juve amid rumors that new ‘golden boy’ of italian soccer cassano is going to transfer to Juve.
Re: Premiership - La Liga - Serie A 05-06
Nedved is a good player and he will play for some seasons, thats my personal opinion.
B4 Pierro ruins this thread, Let me agree with you that his performance in recent seasons is not what he was once known for (at club level). Age might be a big factor here. As of rumors, he was deciding to retire a couple of seasons back and was looking for a coaching oppurtunity with Juve, but Juve fans wanted him in the squad and management extended his contract upto 2008.
Cassano is a good player. Whether he can be a "golden boy" or not, only time can tell. Totti was once named by the Italian media as the new golden boy, but he failed to deliver even for Roma. Both Totti and Cassano are good players to me.
Re: Premiership - La Liga - Serie A 05-06
problem with all those italian golden boys is that they perform well for one season, then get called golden boy and fail to deliver at the heighest platform.
I guess the pressure one is under to equal Roberto Baggio is too much for these players.
Del Piero, Totti and Cassano have all succumbed when their country depended on them to deliver. Only of DP can one say that he managed to perform somewhat similar to Baggio during the 90s. Totti and Cassano have both been a flop at international level (esp Champion's League).
Re: Premiership - La Liga - Serie A 05-06
i think the only real ‘golden boy’ in the Azzurri national squad is Andrea Pirlo.
rated AND performs.
other players who live u to expectations are Miccoli, Gilardino, Nesta and Cannavaro.
these lads arent exactly golden boys but are rated! and they perform 9 times out of 10. i thin Maldini can still do a job for Italy.
as for ADP and FT:
ive never liked ADP, firstly for his Juve links, and secondly for his howlers against France in Euro2000final. he just doesnt look interested. he lost the fire in his belly after the CL win in 1996.
Totti should be called a Twatti. what was he thinking when he spat in that dudes face at Euro 2004?!?!?! the hopes of an entire nation went down the karzee in an instant after that. surprised he didnt get hung, drawn and quartered after that!
if that had been a paki cricket player, the fans wouldve drove him to suicide!
cassano: the boy is lost is such a big city! he hasnt got anyone to guide him and advise him. throwing toys out of the pram everytime u start from the bench isnt showing respect to anyone, esp the other players. he could mature and do well at Milan.
i feel so sorry for Baggio. absolutely adored the dudes ability. the only Golden boy to perform when hes given the chance. injuries blighted what wouldve been an AMAZING career, and head strong coaches wouldnt give show faith in him and refuse him much chances. shame most people remember him for that penalty miss in USA’94.
Re: Premiership - La Liga - Serie A 05-06
As I said b4, I have no intentions to ruin this thread, but information must be accurate. Like you, I am a big fan of Italian soccer, particularly of Milan and DP. Here is a valid remark that makes your statement false. 
…
And watch out for the developments regarding Alex Del Piero, who seems to be stuck in an unwelcome role as a people’s hero without a starting place.
Capello took him off 28 times last season but Del Piero still ended up being Juve’s top scorer and his overhead-kick-cum-cross which allowed Trezeguet to head past Dida in the title decider in Milan stands out in the memory of many…
…
“Same Rules apply”, Roberto Gotta, while talking about this Italian season, talks on DP and his performance last season
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=340582&root=europe&cc=5739
Re: Premiership - La Liga - Serie A 05-06
From the same article:
Cassano was booed by the fans at Roma's only home match of the pre-season the other day, and this has stoked the fires of a rumoured, huge three-way trade which would send him to Juventus with Del Piero and Mutu joining Milan and Roma respectively. Sci-fi B movies from the Fifties had a more plausible script than that, but having seen Vieri join Milan we know anything can happen in the transfer market. So stay tuned.
Re: Premiership - La Liga - Serie A 05-06
You see, one incident doesnt make your statement weighted. The fact is that he hardly featured in seasons finale and his role was bits and pieces. I watched the quoted incident though.
Re: Premiership - La Liga - Serie A 05-06
In Serie A, DP is the man.
You must have a good idea that Serie A was very much dependant on that Milan-Juve clash and it was Pierro who made the difference, yet once again. Pierro was also the top scorer for Juve last season. He is the man who separates Juve from the rest of Italia and the man who was between Milan and scudetto for so many seasons. He might not be as worthy a player now as he was once, but still he is still the most cheered man at Delle Alpi.
Re: Premiership - La Liga - Serie A 05-06
Bro Del Piero is past it...hes a big name player who the fans love but hes not worthy of a place in the starting lineup...Ibrahimovic and Trezeguet are better players...
Del Piero has not performed when needed for Italy and is increasingly becoming a bit player...he will always be remembered for having immense talent but much like Totti never fulfilling that potential...
Totti for me is such a talented player...and to say he doesnt perform for Roma is incorrect...for me he is indispensable...but unfortunately he hasnt shown this on the World stage...i can hope that he shows his true calibre when the World cup comes next year...
And as a Roma fan...Cassano needs to grow up...arrogance is an excellent attribute for a footballer...but Cassano takes it too far...i would love him to stay if he can mend his ways but if not then shot him to Milan...we need the money anyway and Montella did wonders for us last season...