Serie A 2007/08

[EJG1980]

If nothing else, I think Benitez deserves a big compliment for getting the Serie A thread post count up. It's usually quite lonely in here! I trust you'll all stick around to discuss Lecce vs Bari in the new year, right? Right?.....

Seriously though, looks like Rafa is definitely going. Just sorting out the details of his pay-off apparently. My brother said that the pundit on Spanish football on Sky last night (I assume it would have been Guillem Balague) thinks he's definitely going.

I think he's been unlucky with the injury situation at Inter, although they still should be a bit closer to the top than they are.

[nakamura]

There was a clip of him bringing a cup of tea out to a Sky journo on TV. Personally, I'd have poured the cup on him after the way he's been treated by the English media, but that's just me.

As for all that nonsense about him being a mediocre manager, well done for putting him straight. I can't be arsed replying to such misinformed nonsense anymore.

Thats alright. We can't be arsed to read your arrogant know it all posts anymore. Everyone wins then!

[paul]

Thats alright. We can't be arsed to read your arrogant know it all posts anymore. Everyone wins then!

Oooohhhh....

[nakamura]

Oooohhhh....

hehe! Seriously though, you do come across a bit like that. If you do have better info that some of us by all means chat about it. Part of the fun of a forum is the discussion.

[SharkSkin-Man]

My mistake in that case then. I am not sure why I included Valencia when my main point about them was that they were a decent club before Rafa took over. Much like someone like Spurs are now.

I would say that is a broadly fair comparison, although Spurs have spent significantly more money than the Valencia of the early 2000s, Valencia had a decent pool of youth players to balance it out a touch.

So, could you see Spurs winning the league twice in the space of 3 years? It would be an absolutely incredible achievement imo.

[Kit]

If nothing else, I think Benitez deserves a big compliment for getting the Serie A thread post count up. It's usually quite lonely in here!

Used to love watching football Italia but for whatever reason they started putting the shows out at 3am, then not at all, then channel 5 or Bravo tried (and failed) to capture the same magic minus James Richardson with an equally awful time slot.

When I was a teenager I used to love watching the highlights on a Sunday morning (hearing how Gazza was doing crap ;p ) before going off to play football. By the time I got back in the afternoon there was usually a decent live game on too.

Still got an Inter shirt knocking about somewhere - circa when the good Ronaldo joined.

[EJG1980]

Used to love watching football Italia but for whatever reason they started putting the shows out at 3am, then not at all, then channel 5 or Bravo tried (and failed) to capture the same magic minus James Richardson with an equally awful time slot.

When I was a teenager I used to love watching the highlights on a Sunday morning (hearing how Gazza was doing crap ;p ) before going off to play football. By the time I got back in the afternoon there was usually a decent live game on too.

Still got an Inter shirt knocking about somewhere - circa when the good Ronaldo joined.

Yeah, no other channel has been able to match the greatness of James Richardson presenting Gazetta. Legendary stuff. It was the first foreign football I watched and I've had a soft spot for Serie A ever since.

I'm so glad there are matches on every week on ESPN now. It was terrible when it was being bounced around various ****ty channels for a few years.

[nakamura]

I would say that is a broadly fair comparison, although Spurs have spent significantly more money than the Valencia of the early 2000s, Valencia had a decent pool of youth players to balance it out a touch.

So, could you see Spurs winning the league twice in the space of 3 years? It would be an absolutely incredible achievement imo.

Well it isn't impossible but I can't see it at the moment. They are flying in the champions league mind, I would say they have a better chance of winning that than the league.

You are totally correct about the amount of cash Spurs have spent. That said, I think they improved under Jol but he fell down perhaps on just too many changes and since Redknapp has come in, he has improved them again. I think they need a tad more stability in the squad to improve results.

[EJG1980]

I think it would be a bigger achievement to win a couple of leagues with Spurs now than with Valencia in the early 2000s. Back then Barca had gone off the boil and wouldn't get their mojo back until Rijkaard came in, so the top of the league wasn't quite so locked up. Plus Valencia got to two consecutive CL finals in the two years before Rafa took over, so they were definitely ahead of where Spurs are now.

For Spurs you'd have to overcome a top four that had been ensconced and way ahead of the chasing pack for about five years, and even with Liverpool falling away a bit they've been replaced by a Man City with unlimited spending power. Getting past all of that is very tough (and despite our transfer fee spending, our wages are well below all of those teams).

I'm not belittling what Rafa did at Valencia, winning anything ahead of Barca and Real Madrid is brilliant no matter what, but if he came to Spurs and won two titles with us I think that would definitely be a bigger achievement.

[saturn-gamer]

Its official now, he got the sack (and probably a big bag of money too).

I wonder if the Spaletti rumour also turns out to be true. A good coach, and Italian.

[Stoppy2000]

Haha, take that rafa.

[SharkSkin-Man]

Sure he's gutted.
6 months work, nice fat pay-off I expect(?) and he gets to come back to his family home.

[EJG1980]

Its official now, he got the sack (and probably a big bag of money too).

I wonder if the Spaletti rumour also turns out to be true. A good coach, and Italian.

I'd like to see what Spaletti could do with Inter's money. From 2006-2008 his Roma side were playing some lovely football. With a little bit of luck he could have won the title with them, despite the limited resources.

I have read though that Inter are put off by the cost of getting him out of his contact with Zenit.

[SharkSkin-Man]

Now that he has finally followed on from his dad and won the European Cup, maybe he's had enough of throwing money up the wall?

[EJG1980]

Maybe, although if he was didn't want to spend money he would have saved a bit by keeping Benitez