ITALIAN
SERIA A 2019/20120
PREVIEW
The new Italian seria A
season is upon us and with just a day to the commencement of the new season,
many Italian seria A faithful can’t wait to see their teams flying high and
hitting the ground running, and for many whose club have added bodies to their
rank, we are super sure this session competition will lead up to the billing.
THE
SCUDETTO CHAMPIONS
In recent years,
Juventus have rubberstamped themselves as the overwhelming favorites as they
have really enjoyed plenty of fortune.
In all fairness, I
really think Juventus deserved most if not all of the titles won as they have
spent their fortune wisely and sporting director Fabio paratici and club
legend Pavel Nedved are really wrapping up decent deals for the old ladies.
Last season saw the
old ladies secured the services of former Real Madrid hitman Cristiano Ronaldo
from the Spanish league and the Portuguese captain did all he could to lift and
bail the team out most especially in difficult situations, and at some point in
the session it looked like Juventus will finish the league going unbeaten no
thanks to Genoa who spoilt the party for the club by defeating them by two
goals to nil, though it worth saying that Ronaldo was rested for that encounter
due to Allegri’s decisions to rest his most prized assets for the UCL which
they eventually lost in a more disappointing fashions to the more youthful and
more industrious Ajax team who enjoyed a Cinderella run throughout the competitions.
Max Allegri was made
the scape-goat for that lost as fans and some members of the club hierarchy
called for his head, though, and he left the club on a mutual consent.
A lots seems to have
changed and the dust also has settled. Juventus have replaced Allegri with
former Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri who
left Chelsea to return to his comfort zone the Italian seria A after spending
just a season in the English premier league as his tactics divided most Chelsea’s
fanbase opinions with his so called “Sarri-Ball”.
To be honest, I
personally think Sarri deserved more respect for the way he managed almost
every difficult situations he found himself while still on the bridge, most especially
with his short stopper Kepa Arrizabalaga at the EFL cup final against English
Champions Manchester city failing to come out after he was substituted, and the
way and manner in which he responded to the English press when asked about the
so called Kepa’s moment of madness is second to known, and with all this, he still
put fellow English side Arsenal to the sword in the Europa League final 4-1 in
Balku, and finished the session ahead of spurs, qualifying Chelsea for the champions
league.
LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT
INTER MILAN
Inter Milano on paper
have made a brave choice in recruiting former Juventus and Chelsea gaffer
Antonio Conte to take the club back to glory and if possible to lead them to
the promise land.
Without a doubt, Conte
is a decent and a perfect choice to choose as he is tested and trusted and his
managerial records is second to none in the land, as he has rubberstamp himself among the
few purists in the League, and if their former coach Luciano Spalleti can give
Juventus a run for their money in both legs of their meetings, I see no reason
why Conte should not be doing the same thing for his former employers.
Conte is known for is
love in playing 3-5-2 formation, and after signing former Athletico Madrid
defender Diego Godin who comes with plenty of protection and solidity at the
back, defenders like Milan Skriniar, Stefan de Vrij, Alessandro Bastoni, Danilo
D’Ambrosio and Ghanian Kwadwo Asamoah still at the club and the latest addition
of former Manchester united striker Romelu Lukaku who has already been given
Mauro Icardi jersey number 9, I really think this year Scudetto race will go
down to the wire and the Nerazzuri will hold their own.
Juventus on their own
may have added bodies to their squad after beating strong competitions from the
likes of Barcelona and Paris saint-germain to sign Dutch and Ajax defended De
Ligt but Sarri’s bad record of not winning the league might reappears, coupled
with the fact that Juventus will most likely want to put their focus on winning
the Uefa Champions League this time around knowing fully well their intentions
to have signed Ronaldo is for them to win the UCL, this gives us more hope that
Conte’s army will find joy come the end of the season.
Additionally, Conte past
history gives us more assurance that better days is finally here as he has won
the Seria B title with Bari in 2008, he managed to promote Siena in 2010 back
to the Seria A, did a near perfect job while coaching Juventus as he won a
hat-tricks of league titles, and winning the English premier league for Chelsea
summed it up, and am really sure Inter Milan faithful will be licking their
lips.
TOP
FOUR CANDIDATES
NAPOLI
Napoli really looked
good for a larger part of last season before things finally fell apart in the
title race as they lost their ground to eventual champions Juventus.
To be fair on Napoli,
they started the session like a house on fire taking teams to the cleaners, but
their lack of squad depth really affected Carlo Ancelotti’s side.
Former Chelsea and Real
Madrid gaffer Carlo Ancelotti who is now with SC Napoli will be happy after his
employers captured Kosmas Manolas from AS Roma, Elif Elmas who joined from
Turkish side Fenerbache, Giovanni Di Lorenzo who was also brought in from
Italian club Empoli and they were able to finally permanent goal keeper David
Ospina deal from English side Arsenal. Seeing Amadou Diawara leaving the club
to join AS Roma is not too good and the player would be miss and Napoli loose
seems to be Roma’s gain though the lost of Raul Albiol to the yellow submarine
in Spain is not a major miss to the club.
Without a doubt Napoli have
turned Naples to their fortress as they were able to gathered dozens of victories in
front of their own fans, but they are not a good travellers all through last
session, though.
Napoli on their own are not short of qualities all around the
club as they have decent players such as Jose Callejon, Arkadlusz Milik and
Dries Mertens, and if defender Kalidou
koulibaly who was a rock at the back for the club last session going home with
the best defender award can show the composure and the balance he put on for
the club last session, Juan Zuniga and Kostas Manolas can work for themselves
in the defense and their captain Lorenzo Insigne still firing at all cylinder,
and the fact that maybe Napoli is the only club who failed to change their
manager among the other top teams in the
league, I think Napoli should be fine going into the new season.
AC MILAN
Ac Milan did a decent
job in the opening stages of last session before finally falling like a pack of
card at the business end of the season finishing fifth a point below city
rivals Inter Milan, and that results made the Rossoneri showed Coach Gennaro Gattuso
the exit door.
Plenty of things seems
to have changed in San Siro, former Sampdoria coach Marco Giampaolo who did a
near perfect job for Sampdoria has been signed and he comes with lot of
experience and am sure he is ready to build a dynasty for the club.
The Rossoneri will not
be taking part in this year Uefa competitions after failing to meet up the FFP
rules by spending plenty of fortune in buying players, but that might be a
blessing in disguise for the team knowing fully well how difficult it is to
play a match on a Thursday night, and this will give the players more time to
rest and they will look sharper than their rivals who will be playing in
Europe.
Theo Hernandez joined
the club from Spanish giants Real Madrid and they were able to secure the
services of Portuguese striker Rafael Leao from French club Lille, but if
polish striker Krzysztof Piatek who cover himself in glory by scoring lot of
goals for the club last term out is fully fit and his partners in crime Suso,
and the support cast of Rade Kranic and lucas keep causing difficult situations
for the opponents, I really fancy Ac Milan finishing on the podium and
returning to the UCL.
EUROPA LEAGUE CANDIDATES
AS ROMA
AS Roma had a season
to forget last term out as the club changed two top managers Eusebio di Francesco and former Chelsea, Leicester
city and AS Roma boss Claudio Ranieri, though the former was sacked while the
latter left after his contract with the club expired.
Former Shakhtar Donetsk
coach Paulo Fonseca has been given a two-years deal to come In and weather the
storm and it remains to be seen if their new coach will be able to galvanise
his soldiers in the league.
Roma are super happy as
they have finally permanent the deal of former Juventus player Leonardo
Spinazzola and Napoli Playmaker Amadou Diawara who also brings plenty of
experience and balance, while also loosing players like Lorenzo Pellegrini to
Italian champions Juventus, Kostas Manolas to Napoli and Stephen El Shaarawy to
Shanghai in China.
Going forward, if
players like Kluivert, Perotti, Dzeko and club captain Florenzi up their game, and with the combination of the likes of Diawara, Pellegrini and Zaniolo in the
middle of the park, AS Roma should be capable of giving the likes of AC Milan
and Napoli a run for their money.
SAMPDORIA
Sampdoria on their own may have lost
their manager Marco Giampaolo to the Rossoneri, but I think they have make up for
that lost by acquiring former AS Roma coach Eusebio di Francesco who was sacked after series of
poor results that could not take the club to the finish line.
Eusebio di Francesco may have lost to Fc Porto in the
last Uefa Champions League round of 16 , but that won’t make him a bad coach.
Before joining AS Roma, he has formely managed Sassuolo and he qualified them
for Europe i.e the Europa League and in all fairness, Sassuola really played a
decent brand of football during his time with the club.
Coming into the
session, Sampdoria have lost the likes of Dennis Praet, Joachim Anderson and
Giacomo Calo while they have signed Jelson Murilo from Spanish side Valencia
after the player finished his loan spell at Fc Barcelona last season, however,
if Italian striker Fabio Quagliarella
who finished last season as the highest goals scored ahead of the likes of AC
Milan and Polish striker Piatek, and former Real Madrid hitman Cristiano
Ronaldo still continue to bang in the goals like a running tape, and players
like Gonzalo Madoni and Frederico Bonazzoli come to the party, I really think
Eusebio di Francesco’s will flourish
with the club.
RELEGATION CANDIDATES
Last season saw Chievo
Verona relegated back to the Seria B after almost 11-years of top flight
football and both Empoli and Frosinone also return to Seria B after
series of poor performances.
Parma on their own proved
to be a hard nut to crack with their fine display to stay in the league more to
the delight of their fans and they will be starting their new session against
champions Juventus who they drew against 3-3 last season.
A lot seems to have
changed, Brescia, Lecce and Hellas Verona are the new boys in town and their
major aspirations coming into the new season will be to avoid the drop.
In recent years, two
out of the three teams who secured promotion to the Seria A always return to
the Seria B mainly because of lack of top quality players around their squad
and the last time all the three teams who gained promotion to the Seria A all managed to avoid the drop was far way
back in 2007/2008 season when Juventus, SC Napoli and Genoa all gained
promotion, and to finished our preview, I think Udinese and two of the recently
promoted teams will be relegated come the end of the season.
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