Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Serie A 05/06 - Week #14
The Serie A season has been a good one so far…especially if you are a Juventus fan. The match between Fiorentina and Juventus this past Sunday was a great one – especially the first half. I’m a romanista at heart but if there is one team that has won me over this year it has to be Fiorentina. In my Serie A preview I had Fiorentina finishing around 7th this year based on the fact that it had a relatively bad 04/05 season but had made significant additions such as Fiore, Toni and Prandelli. Toni, of course, has been simply incredible. But the team as a whole plays some really entertaining full field soccer. Fiorentina wasn’t the least bit scared to be up against Juventus and were incredibly unlucky to have hit two posts and a crossbar. I like the way Fiorentina isn’t afraid to rotate the ball to any side of the field and really spread the other team’s defense apart. In fact, Fiorentina seemed to have a better “game” for most of the Juventus match. Many times I saw Juventus hoofing the ball from defense up field. This is not a knock against Juventus. Quite the opposite. Juventus seems to be doing whatever it takes to get the win and wins are exactly what La Vecchia Signora is doing.
Fiorentina’s goal was a real work of art. Four players involved in a textbook soccer play that is simply indefensible when worked to the perfection. Fiore made a gorgeous flick to Pasqual (I believe it was him) who crossed a picture perfect ball across the field where Pazzini nailed a header under a diving Abbiati. Fiore was taken off early and it’s something that I’ve noticed many times with him before…he never seems to play through a whole game…even when he was on the national team I noticed him getting subbed off a lot. I wonder if he lacks the endurance to play hard for a whole 90 minutes.
For Juve the story at the beginning of the season was how Emerson and Vieira controlled the midfield. But lately the story seems to be increasingly that of Ibrahimovic and his ability to pull a rabbit out of a hat. Trezeguet is his quiet sidekick who you only notice when it’s time to close off the play for a goal. Trezeguet will silently end up as one of the highest goal scorers in Serie A history at this pace. It would be interesting to see Ibrahimovic play on a team with a 4-3-1-2 or 3-4-1-2 formation in the same role that Totti plays.
Juve looks to be in a very dominating position heading into the Christmas season having opened up an eight point lead which is quite large considering that only 14 matches have been played to date. Milan is just way too inconsistent right now to be considered in the hunt to come back. I do think Juve will falter a little at some point. As I spelled out in the season preview if there is one thing that can cause Juve to slow down is its lack of depth – particularly when the injuries start to mount up and the pressures of Champions League escalate. But right now the pressure in Serie A is being ratcheted down a notch for Juventus (playing Cagliari this week) while Milan goes against Inter.
Chievo 2 – AC Milan 1
Inter 1 – Ascoli 0
Fiorentina 1 – Juventus 2
Lazio 3 – Siena 2
Palermo 2 – Cagliari 2
Reggina 2 – Parma 1
Sampdoria 2 – Empoli 0
Treviso 0 – Messina 0
Udinese 0 – Livorno 2
Lecce 2 – Roma 2
Fiorentina’s goal was a real work of art. Four players involved in a textbook soccer play that is simply indefensible when worked to the perfection. Fiore made a gorgeous flick to Pasqual (I believe it was him) who crossed a picture perfect ball across the field where Pazzini nailed a header under a diving Abbiati. Fiore was taken off early and it’s something that I’ve noticed many times with him before…he never seems to play through a whole game…even when he was on the national team I noticed him getting subbed off a lot. I wonder if he lacks the endurance to play hard for a whole 90 minutes.
For Juve the story at the beginning of the season was how Emerson and Vieira controlled the midfield. But lately the story seems to be increasingly that of Ibrahimovic and his ability to pull a rabbit out of a hat. Trezeguet is his quiet sidekick who you only notice when it’s time to close off the play for a goal. Trezeguet will silently end up as one of the highest goal scorers in Serie A history at this pace. It would be interesting to see Ibrahimovic play on a team with a 4-3-1-2 or 3-4-1-2 formation in the same role that Totti plays.
Juve looks to be in a very dominating position heading into the Christmas season having opened up an eight point lead which is quite large considering that only 14 matches have been played to date. Milan is just way too inconsistent right now to be considered in the hunt to come back. I do think Juve will falter a little at some point. As I spelled out in the season preview if there is one thing that can cause Juve to slow down is its lack of depth – particularly when the injuries start to mount up and the pressures of Champions League escalate. But right now the pressure in Serie A is being ratcheted down a notch for Juventus (playing Cagliari this week) while Milan goes against Inter.
Chievo 2 – AC Milan 1
Inter 1 – Ascoli 0
Fiorentina 1 – Juventus 2
Lazio 3 – Siena 2
Palermo 2 – Cagliari 2
Reggina 2 – Parma 1
Sampdoria 2 – Empoli 0
Treviso 0 – Messina 0
Udinese 0 – Livorno 2
Lecce 2 – Roma 2
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You're absolutely right that Fiorentina looked good and were unlucky this weekend - a draw would have been a fair result. You're also right about Ibra's increasing influence - he is, at this point, unquestionably one of the most talented players in the world, and if he becomes a better finisher he will be an all-time great.
But one point that bears mentioning after this crucial game between Juve and Fiorentina is the massive difference in physical strength between the two teams (and, really, between Juve and all other teams). This is an element of the game that tends to be overlooked, but it was quite amazing to watch the backbone of Juve (which is to say Cannavaro and Thuram in defense and Vieira and Emerson in midfield) simply dominate their opponents physically (must be the EPO). Obviously physical prowess unmatched by skill would be pointless and would devolve into English-style goonery, but in the case of Juve, it is in many ways the key to their success. Fiorentina has become an excellent team and absolutely deserves their success to this point, but when you see Juve go on the road and throw its weight around, coupled with the sublime skill of Ibra and Camoranesi and the finishing touch of Trezeguet, it's hard to imagine anyone making much of a dent in la Vecchia Signora's impressive lead in Serie A.
One other point worth mentioning and on which I'd appreciate your point of view as a Romanista (you poor bastard). Watching Cassano this weekend, despite the fact that he undoubtedly lacked match fitness, one couldn't help but wonder how different things might have been for Roma this year if they'd played him from day one. Stubbornness does not come without a price. Thoughts?
But one point that bears mentioning after this crucial game between Juve and Fiorentina is the massive difference in physical strength between the two teams (and, really, between Juve and all other teams). This is an element of the game that tends to be overlooked, but it was quite amazing to watch the backbone of Juve (which is to say Cannavaro and Thuram in defense and Vieira and Emerson in midfield) simply dominate their opponents physically (must be the EPO). Obviously physical prowess unmatched by skill would be pointless and would devolve into English-style goonery, but in the case of Juve, it is in many ways the key to their success. Fiorentina has become an excellent team and absolutely deserves their success to this point, but when you see Juve go on the road and throw its weight around, coupled with the sublime skill of Ibra and Camoranesi and the finishing touch of Trezeguet, it's hard to imagine anyone making much of a dent in la Vecchia Signora's impressive lead in Serie A.
One other point worth mentioning and on which I'd appreciate your point of view as a Romanista (you poor bastard). Watching Cassano this weekend, despite the fact that he undoubtedly lacked match fitness, one couldn't help but wonder how different things might have been for Roma this year if they'd played him from day one. Stubbornness does not come without a price. Thoughts?
# posted by 
: 1:33 AM
: 1:33 AM
I'll address the Roma question first because I'm closer to it. The answer is partially obvious - almost any team is helped by Cassano when he's playing like we've seen him play at his best. But I think the Cassano situation is not the reason Roma hasn't done better. I think Roma's two major problems are: 1. a smallish team in general and 2. the lack of physically imposing striker in the box. Against Red Star Belgrade Roma seemed like a bantam basketball team playing against the senior sqaud. The overall team skill factor is not that bad but when you have a guy like Totti who's not going to win a lot of balls, Montella who's tiny and isolated and your defenders scoring most of the team's goals off of headers you are fighting an uphill battle. Point#2 is related. Roma's done an excellent job of getting the ball in the third half of the field but then run out of ideas. Crosses are wasted and Montella is bullied around - often marked by two central defenders. Nonda's been a mediocre at best.
I'm not sure I'm buying the theory that Fiorentina was physically dominated by Juventus - especially by Cannavaro and Thuram. After all - Toni (who was marked by the Juve defensive duo) getting physically dominated by anyone?? Not even the butcher (aka Materazzi) physically dominated him. And on Fiorentina's goal it was a bigger more athletic seeming Pazzini who beat Cannavaro to the air off of the cross.
I do think the Juve midfield is just awesome when healthy (physically tough but skilled at the same time) although Vieira looks like he's playing hurt.
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I'm not sure I'm buying the theory that Fiorentina was physically dominated by Juventus - especially by Cannavaro and Thuram. After all - Toni (who was marked by the Juve defensive duo) getting physically dominated by anyone?? Not even the butcher (aka Materazzi) physically dominated him. And on Fiorentina's goal it was a bigger more athletic seeming Pazzini who beat Cannavaro to the air off of the cross.
I do think the Juve midfield is just awesome when healthy (physically tough but skilled at the same time) although Vieira looks like he's playing hurt.
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