#big man play drum drum say grrrrr

[fossadeileonixv]

Monday Milan Musings

For today a quick thought or two on each team across the league just in time for the beginning of the season:

And we’re off!

I’ll be very interested to see how ATALANTA tackles the season. Will they try to compete on 2 fronts or just focus on the league? New signings de Roon and Ilicic are worth watching as well as former Milan player Cristante. Even with Conti and Kessie gone, they will still compete for a top 5 finish.

BENEVENTO’s shirt sponsor this year will be a pasta company named Molisana. Word is they will be paid in macaroni. At least they’ll eat well!

BOLOGNA will be crazy young this year which means they will be up and down but also be a thorn in the side at time. Donadoni always seems to have one really good stretch a year. Young guys like Donsah, Masina and Nagy will be worth watching and are on bigger clubs radars for the future. They also feature former Milan players Poli, Verdi and Destro who will all contribute.

Noted Milan killers Marco Borriello and Marco Sau lead the line for CAGLIARI. You can bet each will probably score at least one goal against us this year. GRRRRR.....

CHIEVO remain the oldest team in the league, which I suppose is something to hang your hat on. Also, that Birsa guy is pretty good. I still miss him. He got almost no chance while banter mainstays like Balotelli and Menez got way too much time on the field. Oh, and Pellisier turns 86 this year... and willscore a brace against SOMEONE.

CROTONE! I just like saying their name because it’s fun to say and it reminds me of croutons atop a Caesar salad. I love Caesar salads. Can they manage to stay out of the bottom 3 a second year in a row? I doubt it. 

Besides Milan, FIORENTINA is a close second when it comes to turnover in Serie A. 8 players out and 12 in and I think they are still shopping. Also like Milan they will go through some growing but be better for it in the long run. Benassi will be the new linchpin for them. 

If i were to split off and start a second blog this year I would follow and write about... drum roll please.... GENOA! They have a nice keeper in Perin, a mediocre defense whilch will keep him busy and show off his skills, one of my favorites in Diego Laxalt in the midfield along with Bertolacci AND the enigmatic Adel Taarabt, AND an attack led by Lapadula, Pandev and (for now) Simeone. The entertainment value here is darn near priceless! I’m seeing lots of 3-2 games in their future.

INTER.... they’ve had an awful lot players coming and going this window but I don’t see a big change overall. I don’t think their window is closed yet though. Could be a huge year for Icardi as it’s a World Cup year AND it looks like he is finally getting a call-up to the NT. He’s my pick for leading goal scorer.

Besides the fact that they are JUVENTUS, I don’t really understand anything they’ve done in the window. Selling the best CB on the planet for pennies on the dollar and signing guys like Szczesny, Cuadrado, Benatia and DeSciglio? I’m sorry, but those aren’t CL championship type signings. Those are wanting to win the scudetto and get blasted in Europe sorts of moves. I’m not saying they are going to crash and burn this year, but they’ve moved sideways at best and probably slid backwards. Do they REALLY want to win the CL? I’m not so sure. 

Right now I would put LAZIO in the group of clubs that’s moved sideways. If they sell Keita Balde I’d drop them a few places. If anyone beyond him goes, they’re looking at a mid-table finish.

MILAN, that’s us. We’re fine.

If NAPOLI goes this whole window and doesn’t do anything to improve their keeper spot, they deserve every bit of the 2nd place finish in the Scudetto race and mediocre CL run that they get. Their groups at defense midfield and attack are all worth about 100 million each. Pepe Reina is worth a cup of coffee and a used lotto ticket. That’s insane. Buy a keeper. It’s what you do!

ROMA, ROMA, ROMA.... The jury is out here but I think they’ve made some excellent moves, especially this Under kid from Turkey. the attack might take a minute to come together, but having Nainggolan and Strootamn in midfield will help. i still think they’re a nose ahead of us.

SPAL brought in Paloschi..... but I’m not sure that will be the difference between staying up and going down.  I’m all for an underdog so i will hope for a good story, but history tells us that often times minnows go straight back down.

SAMPDORIA! SCHICK! TORREIRA! Old man QUAGLIARELLA! Watch them score! Watch them concede! See also: Genoa minus the really good keeper.

TORINO needs to sell us Belotti for a bucket of cash and Niang. I’ll throw in Paletta too. Besides that, Mihajlovic will make them frisky til say February 1st, then they will burn out and fade away. Just like us 2 years ago.

UDINESE owns Kevin Lasagna! What else is there to say? Well, they have an excellent keeper (are you paying attention Napoli?) and a couple of my favored youngsters in Sylvan Widmer and Seko Fofana. I’m honestly surprised all 3 are still there. Another mid to lower end table finish upcoming.

HELLAS VERONA has our youngster Felicoli on loan. I hope we get a chance to see him play. Their return to Serie A also means the return of this guy:

but it also means the return of this doorknob:

Amazingly, according to transfermarkt.com Cerci is valued at 4 million while Pazzini is valued at 1.5 million. I’m sorry but there’s no way in hell I’d pay 5 bucks for Cerci. He’s a disaster. Meanwhile Pazzini can still knock ‘em in. It would be awesome if he makes a run at the scoring title.

PREDICTION TIME

Juve wins the league, Napoli’s lack of a keeper lets them down and the battle for 3rd comes down to us and Roma.

Icardi tops the goal scoring list and Fiorentina surprises to challenge the top 5 while Lazio ends up closer to the bottom than the top.

Cheers

Lisi