Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Say it aint so Joe-seppe!

Very disappointed indeed to read of Giuseppe Rossi's move to Villareal in La Liga. I had held out high hopes that we might get "our boy" back in Serie A but to no avail. It is, perhaps, a sign of the times that a relative tiddler of a club (no offence Villareal fans) can outbid any Italian rivals. I'm not sure how serious the interest in Italy was but it would have been nice to have one of our genuine entertainers on our shores.

Elsewhere, the Serie A fixture list is finally out with a few crackers in the opening weeks.

http://www.lega-calcio.it/ita/atim_calendario.shtml

Palermo v Roma looks the tastiest treat on opening day with Milan v Fiorentina in week two. And the sparks should really fly by week four when Roma face Juve in the Bianconeri's first big match since their return. Oh, I can hardly wait for August 26 to roll around.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rossi is good and Ferguson has dropped a clanger here. I hope he regrets it later. Last season he (Rossi) was "the future of the club" (Ferguson's words - apparently). And now he comes 3rd to an unproven Brazilian/Portugese combinantion (Anderson & Nani).

Not that I take much interest in all things Man Utd, but, I saw Rossi as the immediate (and better) replacement for Scholes (who is past it). But, just as Ferguson had a blind spot for Keane (in that he could do no wrong, and could play forever) he is developing a blind spot for Scholes. But what do I care.

It's just a shame to see a very good player leave the EPL.

Are Man City the new Chelsea ? i.e. the home for Italians playing in the EPL.

patcook said...

Disappointing that he didn't return to italy, strange too because he has ambitions to play for the azzurri and i dont know how much he will get noticed at villa if they cant return to their 2005-06 form.

very good players always leave the EPL if they ever go. how many times has guy playing in the EPL lifted a world or european player of the year?

1968 - George Best was the last EPL playing european footballer of the year and none have ever won the fifa world player of the year in its 16 year history.

i cant wait for the serie a either and Inter - Milan second last round of the season

Its good to see theyre trying to shake up the coppa too

patcook said...

Micky Owen got it 2001 sorry - so 2 winners in 40 years

ginkers said...

Trent

I hope it comes back to haunt him too. Still, maybe tough for Rossi to get a regular spot at Man Utd.

Certainly I will be watching Man City more closely this season if they keep signing Serie A players.

Pat

Interesting stats on the player awards, I will use those in some arguments in future.

I guess as long as the boy gets a game in a decent level of football I shouldn't grumble.

Anonymous said...

Ginkers, Do you have any more details of Channel-5 coverage of Serie 'A'. i.e. a start date, schedule, etc

Milanista said...

I too am quite disappionted by the fact that an Italian club couldn't land ROssi. With so many players that can play in his position at Man Utd he was bound to leave, just so sad he isn't in Itlay! this is another Italian Serie A has lost.

On the other hand the fixtures are out and looks like ROma have bad luck on their side with such hard fixtures in the first 10 weeks.

Milan start against Genoa which could be extremely interesting. I can't wait for this campaign to start

martinobhoy said...

And there were a few rumours that Celtic were looking to take him on loan for a season, ah well.

Anyhoo excellent news on the fixture list. Time to get the holidays booked.

ginkers said...

Trent

I havent heard much, to be honest, but will post something here as soon as I do.

Milanista

I think with the number of quality teams in the league this year there are tasty fixtures every week.

Martino

Have you not got your season ticket for the Viola yet? Just 250 Euros for the Curva Fiesole!

Aussie Romanista said...

I almost choked on my weeties yesterday morning when I heard on the radio that Rossi went to Villareal. Well I would have if I hadn't been driving to work at the time.
It's a disgrace, debacle, disgusting.... that a player like him is not in serie A. The outflux continues, and continues to embarass me... Lucarelli, Bianchi, Grosso, etc etc etc.
And I don't give a shit what anyone says, the captain of Italy should play in Italy. He should be the benchmark, the example for every other player.

ginkers said...

I too would like to see our best players playing in Italy but what can you do if nobody can afford to pay their wages. The price of success at the World Cup and Champs League might be seeing our better players plundered.

Steven said...

Palermo - Roma on the first day, but also Milan - Genoa. Remember '95? I think the police will have a pretty difficult day in Milano...

Venezian said...

Regarding the Channel 5 coverage - here is the latest:

http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/162232/serie-a-returns-to-uk-terrestrial-tv-li ve-on-five

As for Rossi - disappointing to see him go to Spain whilst Milan are willing to spent 22m euros on a 17 year old Brazilian, but at least he will be getting a regular game, and can hoepfully score a bagful of goals to get him into contention for the Azzurri.