2019/20 Italian Football Thread - Serie A

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Adam_23

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In typically late Italian fashion, the Serie A fixtures will be released this coming Monday night (29th of July)/Tuesday morning our time.

After a record breaking 8th straight league title last season, is Juve's run finally going to come to an end? Well, everyone except Juve fans are certainly hoping so. Their domestic dominance somewhat loosened last season though when for the first time since 2014, someone else won the Coppa Italia! Lazio prevailed 2-0 over Atalanta in the final.

Wecome back to Serie A to the 3 new promoted teams Lecce, Brescia and Hellas Verona. The rest of this seasons representation can be seen below:

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It's been a very interesting off-season to date, some of the major talking points:

- After spending one season abroad, and after years of not hiding his disliking of Juve, Mo Sarri is back and in charge of the Bianconeri. Going to be fascinating how responsive, patient and dedicated the Juve players are towards this big style change. After years of winning with a completely different (dour) style under Allegri, the transition will be something to keep an eye on. With Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci getting on, makes the signing of Matthijs de Ligt even more important, and Gigi Buffon is back!

- The man who begun this Juve dynasty is now charge of their fierce rivals Inter, which i think is great for the league. They have the talent and Antonio Conte just knows how to get results, so i expect Inter to give it a real shake. Love the signings of Diego Godin and Nicolo Barella.

- After years of playing great football but only finishing 2nd, do Napoli have what it takes to stay up there under Carlo Ancelotti? Kostas Manolas is a massive signing to pair alongside Koulibaly, while expect Fabian Ruiz to go to the next level and be one of the best midfielders in Serie A. Napoli could do with one more quality attacking player, have been strongly linked to the likes of Mauro Icardi, James Rodriguez, Hirving Lozano and Nicolas Pepe - hope they sign one of them to boost their title challenge!

- Milan were taken out of the europa league due to FFP rulings. After years of starting 'new projects', another is here under Marco Giampaolo. Club icon Paolo Maldini has been appointed as the clubs new technical director.

- Rebuild in the capital as Roma also have a new coach. Paulo Foncesa is in, club legends Totti (as director) and De Rossi are gone. Roma have some ripping young talent, but the ultras began to get very disgruntled last season, so how much patience will they have for their new coach? Fascinating times there.

- Eusebio Di Francesco is the new manager of Sampdoria. Big fan of this appointment, he's a good coach who took Roma to the CL semi's in 2018.

- After saving them from relegation last season when he took over mid season, unfortunately Siniša Mihajlović has had to stand down as Bologna coach due to being diagnosed with a form of leukaemia. Wish him all the best in his recovery!

Lastly, Juventus, Napoli, Inter and Atalanta will be representing Italian football in the UCL this season, while Roma, Lazio and Torino will compete in the UEL.

:italy: All the fun (the league) commences in the early hours of Sunday, August 25 (Aust time), with the opening round of the Coppa Italia starting next Sunday the 4th of August :italy:
 
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mike123

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Really want to get into the Serie A for the first time this season. Really can't decide what club to follow, my dad is from Messina in Sicily, so there is no team in his city.

Family also from Grosetto in Tuscany, how should I go about following a team?!
Sampdoria have the dogs colours. That’s how I picked Juve.
 

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Really want to get into the Serie A for the first time this season. Really can't decide what club to follow, my dad is from Messina in Sicily, so there is no team in his city.

Family also from Grosetto in Tuscany, how should I go about following a team?!
If your family is from Tuscany, there is only team to follow. FIORENTINA. Just don't expect any success for the next 100 years or so.:(
 

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Jun 27, 2013
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amazing that many of the teams are in the north
There were a few southern teams around, but they've lost the plot lately, only Napoli is a mainstay, while Lecce have gotten their s**t back together after being relegated down to Serie C due to matchfixing in 2011-12

Bari, Palermo and Catania for example have gone downhill, but Palermo has largely been a yoyo club though since they went down in 2013 off the back of a few years of constantly selling their best players (Pastore, Cavani, Sirigu etc)
 
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VAR/this ref have been monumentally garbage so far to half time in the Fiorentina Napoli game

BS handball on VAR review given against Zielinski, Viola score

Mertens scores a cracker from outside the box then a few minutes later dives in the box looking for contact, wins a penalty, VAR doesn't overrule the refs call

Lol, garbage

Napoli have played pretty poorly so far, even with 2 goals under the belt, midfield is sitting far too deep, Mario Rui has offered nothing out wide, whipping in stupid crosses when no one is there to latch onto them, really lacking a number ten to control the ball in our final third, all the forwards are isolated and don't seem to have any fluidity to their play.

Insigne needs some help, Viola are defending deep too, but real lack of production in our final third currently. Should be 0-0 or 0-1
 
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Alright

That really opened up second half

Insigne really lead the way, Callejon popped up with a good finish for our third from an Insigne pass, while Mertens, Callejon and Insigne all combined for our 4th

Chiesa had a decent game for Viola, will be a player that kid

Got out of jail in the end, Viola very good from set pieces, but we got them on the counter in the end when it mattered.

Allan getting a yellow early on really affected his game, Fabian Ruiz pretty quiet too. Need more out of them next week against Juve.
 

Adam_23

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Tough first up game, nice to get the win. Our first win in Florence in 5 years. 2 goals and 2 assists for Insigne! That game had it all.

Also great to see the Franchi so full and vibrant again, think Fiorentina will be solid this year.

Juve vs Napoli already next weekend. Should have both Milik and Lozano in the squad.
 
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Tough first up game, nice to get the win. Our first win in Florence in 5 years. 2 goals and 2 assists for Insigne! That game had it all.

Also great to see the Franchi so full and vibrant again, think Fiorentina will be solid this year.

Juve vs Napoli already next weekend. Should have both Milik and Lozano in the squad.
Milik would give us some structure and presence

Ruiz is just an 8, gave us nothing in the final third, though he was supposed to be our most advanced mid, would be happy to play some weird 4-2-2-2 formation like

Whoever at RB, Manolas, Koulibaly, Ghoulam
Allan and 1 of Ruiz/Zielinski
Callejon and Insigne
Milik and Mertens

Probably won't happen at Juve, but would like to see it at home/against most sides
 

mike123

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Napoli shouldn’t have too much trouble against us if we play a midfield of Matuidi - Pjanic and Khedira again.
 
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Napoli shouldn’t have too much trouble against us if we play a midfield of Matuidi - Pjanic and Khedira again.
If you defend deep we will struggle

Wasn't impressed at all with our midfield game, relied far too much on the full backs to drive us forward, our central midfield was very deep and just passed it around doing bugger all

Plain and simple if we didn't have Insigne we would've lost easily, he's basically like for us what Eden Hazard was for Chelsea
 

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