[acid911]

But it's not about being pedantic at all. You said 2003 was the beginning of the decline - but on what grounds?

Maybe because of the rise of the EPL? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/huh.gif) That coincided with that time frame. And prior to that Serie A was the proving ground for a lot of the talent that went onto become icons. After that, not as much. That is, when you compare it with the past few decades prior to that.

[kurtsimonw]

Pjanic pass

Nice.

[X-Offender]

I wouldn't say Italy is below France. Take any team other than PSG and Juve or Roma can beat them. For example, Fiorentina beat Guingamp in the EL a few weeks ago. Same argument for Portugal. Head on, Juve and Roma are stronger than Porto, Sporting and Benfica. Only Porto could prove a real challenge. The other Portuguese teams are a joke.

But the mere fact that we're contemplating whether Serie A is superior to Ligue 1 and and the Portuguese league says it all how far Serie A has fallen.

[Danny]

But it's not about being pedantic at all. You said 2003 was the beginning of the decline - but on what grounds?

It was the last time Serie A had 3 teams in the semifinals. It summed up the peak of the league and the begin of its decline - slowly but surely after that Spain and England took over completely and by 2008, following the final embers of Italian quality (us winning CL) Serie A was nowhere.

Inter was of course a big freaky exception in 2010, but aside them no Italian side even made the semis between 2008-present.

From the league dominating CL in 2003 to being nowhere in 2014, the signs are there.

[Jack Bauer]

Parma, who only had just 3 points till tonight, manhandling Inter (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Too bad Napoli won.

[X-Offender]

Still, if we win tomorrow, we could be only 3 points from second place. Another failure at this point would be inexcusable.

[Fillipo Simone]

Inexcusable? At this point, hardly. But yes, it's a good opportunity and it shouldn't be missed.

[han2503]

Inexcusable? At this point, hardly. But yes, it's a good opportunity and it shouldn't be missed.

Yes it is. We're playing against Palermo! Another just promoted side like Empoli who we also lost 2 points against.

No matter where we are in our progression, we shouldn't be losing points to these teams, I can accept losing to Juve and Roma, drawing against Inter/Napoli but I cannot accept that we're losing regular points against bottom level sides. For me, that's inexcusable. We could easily find ourselves back in the bottom half of the table if we don't win and other results don't go our way.

Had we taken our chances against Fiorentina and Cagliari, we could be looking at a chance to come level with Roma this weekend.

[Danny]

It's so warped. Juve today absolutely destroyed Parma 7-0. Head and shoulders above anything else in Serie A but cannot dent the CL. They're 50/50 to get to the KO stage but 5 points dropped all season domestically shows how weird they/Serie A is right now.

Meanwhile we're 7th, and barely deserving of it.

[Rossoneri7]

Inexcusable? At this point, hardly. But yes, it's a good opportunity and it shouldn't be missed.

Think its more to do with expectations. A measure of capacity and capability; ie reality.

These teams, Palermo, Sampdoria, Empoli, etc .. They play Milan as if it was a CL tie. They treat the Juve and inter games respectively the same. Assuming we have better history or better individuals is an automatic win against such teams is nieve IMHO.

An example is in the match threads, the first posts has our stats against these teams, ehich portray something distorted, as those results we collected in the past against these teams is not in line with what our potential is today. Such, if this was Ancelotti's Milan then that is a different measure all together.

Hence why Pippo is soon to be proclaimed an idiot.

[X-Offender]

It's so warped. Juve today absolutely destroyed Parma 7-0. Head and shoulders above anything else in Serie A but cannot dent the CL. They're 50/50 to get to the KO stage but 5 points dropped all season domestically shows how weird they/Serie A is right now.

Meanwhile we're 7th, and barely deserving of it.

Don't dismiss Roma. They're also very strong. Discount the two Bayern games. They're too green at the moment to compete against such heavyweights like Bayern or Madrid. But with time they'll only get better and better. Because they have an actual plan, unlike what some people want to make us believe about Milan.

[X-Offender]

Mancini is the new Inter coach.

EDIT: It's not official yet.

This post has been edited by X-Offender: Nov 14 2014, 12:11 PM

[acid911]

Good for them. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) If it happens, that is.

[Danny]

He might make them mediocre again. Which is a serious threat to our 8th place ambitions.

[X-Offender]

He might make them mediocre again. Which is a serious threat to our 8th place ambitions.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)