Brief thought of the day: Comparing Serie A to the EPL

By: agiamba | April 16th, 2008

There was a Goal.com article recently comparing Roma to Arsenal. While obviously no two teams will match up….here are the comparisons between the Big Fours of England and Italy.

Inter-Chelsea
Both teams have generally been the “other big 4 team” and did not have much domestic success until recently. Big spending by their new owners has resulted in some domestic dominance, but both teams are widely resented for similar reasons. Neither team plays particularly “sexy” football.

Juventus-Manchester United
The powerhouses of both leagues, both teams have the domestically dominant team for much of their history, and are one of the most famous teams in the world. The duo play a pretty middle-of-the-line game, neither free-flowing but not particularly catenaccio-esque. (barring Capello’s term) Despite being the league heavyweights, both teams have failed to extend that kind of success to Europe. Both are located in the industrial capitals of their country. (Note: I hate Manchester United) Both are the most popular, and most hated teams in their country.

Roma-Arsenal
Read the above article for a more coherent take on it, but it’s pretty easy. Moderately successful, both teams play attractive football but potentially at the cost of silverware. The duo have good managers who have an eye for good transfers, and are generally considered financially weaker than the other clubs.

Milan-Liverpool
Pretty easy. In the last 15 years or so, both have sucked domestically, but dominated in Europe. Oftentimes, the managers don’t even seriously try for the league title at the start of the season. They envy Juventus/Manchester United’s recent domestic success, but have plenty of European titles to keep their fans happy. Both managers promised to fight for the league title next year.

Some Related Juventus Posts:

Category: Competitions, Serie A, Team News

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roberto

for real adam? I think Tiago is garbage... he'd be my first export this year. We need a someone more impactful. Offensively or defensively, we need a guy like him on steroids or horse testosterone.
Ozz

EPL is just a product of media and nothing else!
munichsoul

Juventus need to beef up seriously. If any Big 4 of Europe needs to show their strength again, it's Italy's teams. Juve need to do something about the English domination.

If the "future" Juve team looked like the one from Alessio, then Europe will have a true wrestling match, not a one-country affair.

Juventus, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and AC Milan need to flex their own muscles to show the EPL who the true giants are.
adam

good point alessio, theyre 24 hes gonna be 27. maybe he could be useful in some sort of swap deal.
agiamba

correction: i never intended to lump tacchinardi with miccoli. i love alessio (hence my name) and hated capello for treating him the way he did. but with him i meant rather than loan him to villarreal for two years, we should have just cleared him from the books.
agiamba

yeah. the difference though is molinaro is 24 and criscito/nocerino are 21. im not a big fan of perpetual-loan deals, ie- tacchinardi/miccoli. if they arent gonna work out, they should just leave.
adam

colin, i dont think that our defence will do that bad next season. chiellini is more than reliable and legro has improved dramatically this season. mellberg is also coming. i do agree with molinaro though he is a liability. i think that he should be loaned out to a smaller team, his work rate is incredible. maybe the pressure of playing at a big club is effecting him. same goes for nocerino.
sally, criscito is not ready to play for juve yet and especially not in europe. he still needs a couple more years of experience. young players need continuity and we cant play him instead of legro just yet.
Sally

what a pity for molinaro though, he has a good heart, if he leaves juve i hope he'll have a better future. i miss seeing chiellini on the left hes so much better there.

juve's not known for playing their own youth and making them juve superstars. i hope that'll change.

how come nobody discussed criscito
agiamba

i dont think legrottaglie or grygera will be cruxified in the CL, molinaro is another story. theyve proved they can hold up in big games, we've conceded 3 goals in 3 games against the other "big 3" in the andata and same in the ritorno. standing up to milan, inter, and roma prove they have the capability.

colin, gianfranco, id love to. im always for flaming the EPL.
Gianfranco

Me too Alessio, we should burn the EPL on our Italy front page.
Colin

didn't mean to comment on your team actually just got caught up on your discussion when what i meant to say was i liked the post and would like to recommend doing one for the whole of Serie A vs EPl just for funs sake, i would be happy to help too if that mattered.
Colin

your defense is not nearly good enough for the CL you will get butchered with grygera, legrotaille, molinaro. your mid is ok when Cameronesi is fit, and your attack is great, but only when DP is on form.
adam

i like ur team alessio, but we need a better back up goalie. someone old and experienced, fontana would be great.
Gianfranco

By the way if your team looks like you suggested consider me jealous!
Gianfranco

Alessio, by your squad list Juve should be not only Serie A champes but compete heavily in the CL as well. I disagree with it a bit specifically with Flamini/Grosso. Amauri is a done deal but with his arrival the retention of Iaquinta may be a bit more difficult than expected. As for Flamini he may be coming to Italy but its tough to tell if he would leave Arsenal if the contract was comparable? Grosso should be brought back home, and Juve would be a good spot for him but if he is available Milan would be insane not to get into a bit of bidding war with Juve.

Great post by the way, you hit the nail on the head with Chelsea and Inter, but Milan have more than a few scudettos in the past 15 years while 'Pool has done nothing in the EPL, but both teams CL pedigree speaks for themselves.
marco

hat trick il capitano!
Sofia

adam, i love what blanc said about creating a ronaldinho that was a good quote..torres is very good and like alessio said we may not be able to afford him anyways...
agiamba

I like what Blanc said. But Torres, I saw Juve could be in competition for him, but they said starting price was like 27million pounds, which is like $55 million. I think especially given our other transfer priorities that number puts us out of the running.
adam

lets just hope we dont get mancini
adam

forget about torres sofia, juve wants to make their own players rather than buy them .
"Last Friday I met all our youth Coaches and reminded them that our priorities don’t change, we want to create a Ronaldinho rather than buying one.” - Blanc

http://www.channel4.com/sport/...
Sofia

R.J - you are exactly the image us canadians have of the typical ignorant American , no offence to any other Americans here, its too bad he ruins your rep.

I agree, Flamini and Grosso could be good signings...what about the Torres situation???
adam

alessio i like the idea of grosso coming in. but de ceglie must either come back as a starter or play very very often. if not he should be loaned prefrebly to a team that has good league staning (uefa cup) so he can gain some international experience. i also think that if nedved decides to continue playing next season giovinco will be loaned to palermo in the amauri deal.
agiamba

Vialli, you think Lippi did? How many Juventini legends during his day came through youth ranks. Not many. He bought some young players but most were young acquisitions from other teams. Ranieri vetoed selling several of our (extremely good) youngsters, to his credit. I'm a fan of Tiago but if he doesn't settle in by the end of the season it'd be stupid for both sides not to part ways. I like Molinaro's heart but he's 24 or something and his quality is just not there.

My opinion-
IN- Flamini, Grosso, Zapata, Amauri (aka free, cheap, expensive, expensive)
OUT- Tiago, Almiron, Birindelli, Nocerino (LOAN), Molinaro, Andrade

Next year starting XI-
Buffon
Grygera Chiellini Legrottaglie Grosso
Camoranesi Sissoko Flamini Nedved
Del Piero Trez
DEF subs: Zebina, Zapata, Mellberg, Stendardo, De Ceglie, Salihamidzic
MF subs: Zanetti, Giovinco, Salihamidzic, Marchionni, Marchisio, Palladino
ST subs: Iaquinta, Palladino, Giovinco, Amauri

Plenty of depth, and all around a good squad.
vialli

nevertheless, this is the last season secco on Juve.

and yeah, Buy Defender and DO NOT sell Palladino, Giovinco, Marchisio and De Ceglie.

God, i miss Lippi. The only Juve trainer that knows the value of youngsters
Sally

well whatever it is at least we could all agree that amauri is the last thing we need.
pleaaaseee juve think this through and not waste that money!
roberto

hahahahah just like ol' times...
R.J.

yeah, but i've never been to canada and have no plans to visit anytime soon. my company has offices in canada and i fucking hate dealing with them. I'm an American/Chicagoan.
Sofia

wasn't it you that said you were part french canadian?? they are the wierdest of all canadians so give yourself a pat on the back
R.J.

haha, you wacky canadians make me laugh! I hope GSP gets stomped out again this weekend.
Sofia

R.J, did i say PLEASE READ R.J? no i didn't so to be honest with you i couldn't give a rat's ass if you read it or not. if your name is not in the post that means its not directly to you which also means i don't care if you read it. do enjoy annoying me or is it just an accident that you do it eveytime you open your mouth?
R.J.

god almighty sofia, i know girls love hearing themselves talk, but please keep your posts to 30 words or less...i refuse to read what you have written on principle alone.
Sofia

honestly this is what juve should do. SELL TIAGO TO WHOEVER IS STUPID ENOUGH TO BUY HIM then SELL Zebina. Use the money you make from that and BUY a CHAMPION DEFENDER. Amauri is NOT what Juve need. JUVE NEED DEFENCE! its not rocket fucking science and it upsets me that our "sporting director" has no fucking clue as to what he is doing. The guy is an idiot, simple. I don't think Barzagli is the right guy, that Spain match changed my mind about him, i don't think he is the Champion defender we are looking for. Juve need someone like Zambro or Canna back there who is going to be a wall. I definately like your idea adam of getting an old guy until our youth players are ready, we just have to ensure that whoever said old man is that he is reliable. Wasting money on Amauri is almost as stupid as buying Tiago. The only thing that Secco did that made sense this season is selling Boumsong and buying Sissoko. Buying Amauri is not worth giving up our youth players. They are the future and since we talk about how we want to have the team of the future we shouldn't be selling our future, especially not to our direct competition. I honestly don't see what Secco sees in Tiago, sorry Sally I have to disagree, Tiago doesn't need anymore playing time. Ranieri has given him chances and he is still behind the likes of Nocerino in the midfield pecking order, and seeing as you all hate him, apparently thats not saying much. Personally, I see potential in Nocerino but I can say it time and time again but no one agrees so I have given up on that one. If Secco was smart he would buy DEFENCE not FORWARDS. It is a waste of the money that we have, which isn't very much after we wasted something like 16 mil on Tiago...
Sally

amauri's transfer would be a complete waste . agreed defence needs revamping . id sell molinaro . though i quite like him for some unfathomable reason . i think hes hardworking but just not good enough . nocerino has been pretty horrid this season as well, though i thought he started well . i think tiago just needs more opportunities and he'd adapt well but thats just my opinion. and last but not least, selling zebina would be a dream come true
adam

i agree completly sofia. our offence has no problem scoring and with giovinco back it should be easier. our defence is not consistent, look at fiorentia, palermo. plus with champions league we need guys that know what theyre doing. with much offense to nocerino and molinaro they seem clueless as what position they play. im thinking we get lucio or barzagli. also an old side back would be great, he would come cheap and the season or two after we bring back de ceglie. that way de ceglie can grow wuth consistency and by the time the aging player starts to suck we'll have de ceglie back.
Anthony

Just a brief thought what about gattuso and seedorf they said clarence will quit milan if dinho go to the meazza.
roberto

Im gonna suit up for the bianconeri next year. Hands down i'll take Molinaro's spot.
Sofia

i don't understand why juve are buying or looking to buy forwards when it is completely obvious we need defenders. Screw Amauri, bring in some strong defenders to play with chiellini and legro because there have been too many games this season where our defence was either make shift or just broke down and caused Buffon to be exposed. It was not fair to him and certainly needs to be addressed.
roberto

for real adam? I think Tiago is garbage... he'd be my first export this year. We need a someone more impactful. Offensively or defensively, we need a guy like him on steroids or horse testosterone.
adam

tiago has just settled in, and i hope if he is sold it will be to a team abroad because i think that he will do really well in a team like fiorentina or roma.
R.J.

if juve = man U, can we swap ronaldo for tiago?