Italian League Prediction Thread (Serie A)

[Jody.Drummer]

Yesterday's match is not and should not be considered as a measure of quality of the team. Juventus has just started their pre-season training and one part of their team hasn't even returned from their holidays yet. They have a lot of work in front of them. Nurnberg is the exact opposite. They have finished their preparations, and their season in the 2. Bundesliga begins next weekend. It's only normal that they will have much better match fitness. Juve played the match with many youngsters, some of which won't stay at the club and others who will feature for the youth teams. 

Although pre season friendlies are actually a way to tell how the season will look but that’s not the best thing to use to measure the club going to the season. Some of the clubs are currently without their senior players due to the Euro and Copa America vacations, but the main thing is managers like Thiago Motta are implementing new tactics which will definitely not click in the first moment. Also most of all this smaller clubs take pre season more important because some players are seeking for top flight recognition not more. It will be absurd to rate clubs pre season performance in correlation to what will happen during the season, Pep hardly wins pre season matches

I actually don't want to comment on what happened to the clubs that played pre-season matches, including Juventus. Because what we saw in this match can't be used as a conclusion that their game will be like that when the season starts. In fact, one of the reasons why I don't want to bet on pre-season matches is because they are not serious about winning.

I think we have heard many coaches say that they are not focused on winning in matches like this, they say more that they only focus on their form of play, while seeing which strategy will be their mainstay. Usually they play all the players they have, and in strategy they try many strategies that are aimed at refining the strategy that they will use in the league. If their orientation is only on winning, then I don't think it can be called a trial match.

[beerlover]

A whole lotta Manchester United fans has shown and expressed how much they love Aaron Wan Bisakka immediately the transfer saga over his sale came up, that's simply because, he has silenced a whole lotta great wingers ( Kylian Mbappe, Neymar Jr, Wilfred Zaha, Raheem Sterling, Jack Grealish, Jeremy Doku, Mo Salah, and a couple others I can't remember no more ) ever since he joined Manchester United and has obviously been the best 1vs1 defender in the world.

I know what he brings for Manchester United but these are hard times and hard decisons are meant to be made and I do feel like he's one of them defenders that should leave the club. Mayneethe fee for him to be bought for I'll say is poor, but that doesn't mean he should stay further, he has been a sqaud player, brilliant and excellent part of Manchester United. The thing is Manchester United cannot win the Premier League Competition with a right fullback like Aaron Wan Bisakka, it's a painful decision to make but he needs to go.

I hope they sell him to Inter Milan and not West Ham United because, I don't want to see him pocketing Manchester United winger's when they go on against him.

When he is healthy he is one of the great wingers, but defensive backs are not really what people are looking for these days and United may look for something else because of that. I am not saying that we are going to see something changing all that easily, of course that may not be the case, but by the looks of it that may not be impossible neither.

I think the best case would be just trying to find an alternative to this. Dumfries is not going to be good enough, Wan Bissaka is a lot better and United should keep him if that's the deal, because I do not think that it's a fair trade between clubs, United would be losing a lot more there, plus not like they need Dumfries neither.

What I think they should do would be just get Bissaka to stay, and if what people are saying true about Depay, just 5 million, that is not money that United can't afford, it's cheap, and he can be a lot better than Dumfries as well, so it would work for them on both sides. I believe that getting rid of some salaries could be the key for United I suppose, but they shouldn't look for that in WB, he is a good player and while they can definitely improve on that position, this trade isn't what they need, they need much more.

[Sexylizzy2813]

can Antonio Conte bring the best of Napoli next season and make them unstoppable?

There are many competitors in Serie A, Napoli has Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan, AS Roma, Lazio & Atalanta. Because of these conditions, it is difficult for Napoli to become unstoppable like 2 seasons ago. Antonio Conte might be able to bring a new positive atmosphere to the team, don't expect too high for Napoli, being in the top 5 at the end of the standings is already a good thing for them IMO.

I get your point, see this man Conte he has a way of making the team much better and don't be surprised when you see those teams you mentioned might not do well next season and I believe it will happen, maybe not Juventus or Atalanta but mark what I said, Napoli will try to get something like I said earlier. If Conte could get hold of any better striker maybe Osimhen or Lukaku then the team is set to go because the other 1st eleven are not making a move to leave the club so I believe Conte has a chance of finishing either 2nd or getting lucky to win the league, but one thing is for sure that those teams that got the best of Napoli last season would find it hard to repeat the same thing this coming season.

[BitcoinHunt3r]

I actually don't want to comment on what happened to the clubs that played pre-season matches, including Juventus. Because what we saw in this match can't be used as a conclusion that their game will be like that when the season starts. In fact, one of the reasons why I don't want to bet on pre-season matches is because they are not serious about winning.

I think we have heard many coaches say that they are not focused on winning in matches like this, they say more that they only focus on their form of play, while seeing which strategy will be their mainstay. Usually they play all the players they have, and in strategy they try many strategies that are aimed at refining the strategy that they will use in the league. If their orientation is only on winning, then I don't think it can be called a trial match.

Yeah you are right, and matches like this always happen every year so no need to be surprised. Winning is not a priority and almost all clubs have new players so they need to play them as a trial to determine their positions and build chemistry that's why we saw Juventus make 11 substitutions, also to determine who deserves a starting position in the new season. Juventus still have 2 friendlies match ahead against Brest and Atletico Madrid well we don't need to seriously wait for this match because there is a possibility that a similar defeat will happen again and as you said we have reasons to avoid betting on matches like this.

[Juse14]

...............

I get your point, see this man Conte he has a way of making the team much better and don't be surprised when you see those teams you mentioned might not do well next season and I believe it will happen, maybe not Juventus or Atalanta but mark what I said, Napoli will try to get something like I said earlier. If Conte could get hold of any better striker maybe Osimhen or Lukaku then the team is set to go because the other 1st eleven are not making a move to leave the club so I believe Conte has a chance of finishing either 2nd or getting lucky to win the league, but one thing is for sure that those teams that got the best of Napoli last season would find it hard to repeat the same thing this coming season.

The ability of motivating players and setting up effective strategies by Conte could be a plus for the improved form of Napoli. He is famous for being very strict tactically and squeezing out the maximum from the players at his disposal. If, under Conte, he does manage to keep a core of key players fit and build strong chemistry within the team, then Napoli will run the league close.

A quality striker such as Osimhen or Lukaku can play a vital role in Conte's game plan by leading an attacking force effectively. Having been supported by a sound midfield and strong defense, Napoli has found continuity in their performance this season.

Let the others watch out because Napoli under Conte can be a very interesting team to see. There are no guarantees in football, but one thing is for sure. Napoli will be a very interesting team to watch next season. The competition in the league gets stronger also, with the work Conte will do in Napoli that could bring big surprises.

[Uruhara]

can Antonio Conte bring the best of Napoli next season and make them unstoppable?

There are many competitors in Serie A, Napoli has Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan, AS Roma, Lazio & Atalanta. Because of these conditions, it is difficult for Napoli to become unstoppable like 2 seasons ago. Antonio Conte might be able to bring a new positive atmosphere to the team, don't expect too high for Napoli, being in the top 5 at the end of the standings is already a good thing for them IMO.

Totally agree with your opinion friend. Because in reality we shouldn't have too high hopes for Napoli with a new season with a new coach. Even though we know that Conte's past qualities as a coach were very good and he has made many achievements in Serie A and also in the Premier League. But we don't know whether he will really be able to improve Napoli in the Serie A standings or not. However, I am optimistic that at least Conte will be better than the previous Napoli coach. But yeah, we still can't hope that Napoli will immediately be able to fight back for the top position in the standings. That will still be difficult to do. But maybe fighting for position 5 or 4 is still possible for this team.

[BITCOIN4X]

~Snip

I actually don't want to comment on what happened to the clubs that played pre-season matches, including Juventus. Because what we saw in this match can't be used as a conclusion that their game will be like that when the season starts. In fact, one of the reasons why I don't want to bet on pre-season matches is because they are not serious about winning.

Some of the pre-season matches played by each team are basically played seriously, but it is true that they are not really important matches to win. Betting on pre-season matches is very risky, even top teams can lose because there are many inexperienced players in their line-up. So don't bet on pre-season games, unless you just want to have fun.

Test matches or friendly matches during pre-season are an event for most young players. The coach will get more young players on the tour or friendly matches instead of the main players, this is done so that the coach can find the potential of his young players if he is needed when the season starts. For new coaches, pre-season matches are an important part of introducing all players to their strategy.

[Docnaster]

The top Italian clubs haven't done so much in the transfer window in their preparations for next season. After Inter Milan dominated the league last season, I was expecting the other top teams to have a very busy summer in other to strengthen their clubs ahead of next season. Looking at the quality of players and depth in squad of the Italian clubs, I think Inter Milan will still retain the league title come next season. Napoli had a regrettable campaign last season after winning the league title the previous season but aside appointing a new manager, they've not done much in bringing in new quality players to the team.

[Iranus]

snip

First, your stats for Osimhen's goals is not accurate. He has scored 76 goals for Napoli so far and he scored 17 for Lille in France, not 14, but that's btw.
Since Osimhen has not played up to half of the games Lukaku has played, you can't compare just by goals. You have to use the goal ratio. If you notice Lukaku played 278 games in the epl and scored 121 goals, and Osimhen has scored 76 in 108 games, that shows that Osimhen's ratio is more impressive than Lukaku's.

If you compare Lukaku's serie A to Osimhen's, Osimhen is still better because I'm pretty sure 76 goals in 108 games is better than 70 goals in 129 games.

When people say Osimhen hasn't proven himself, I don't understand what that means. He scored 17 goals for Napoli despite them having one of the worst league seasons in a long time, he scored 31 before that. We've watched him perform time and again but you still say he hasn't proven himself, what more do you want him to do? And don't tell me the "because he has played in the epl" bullshit, because currently, the serie A is just as difficult as the EPL.

In my opinion, Osimhen will do just fine in PSG. They don't have a striker better than him and they don't have Mbappe anymore that the whole team looks up to. Osimhen is not the kind of striker that waits in the box like Lukaku, so he'll excell in a lot of big clubs. As long as the club has good wingers and midfielders, he will be fine. And I PSG he'll have way less pressure on his shoulders and that can be better for a player.

Osimhen will definitely do fine at PSG. But I think the problem is going to be that he is not going to have a good competition consistently. That is why he is not going to feel the pressure of proving himself consistently just like you said. And that is not going to be necessarily a good thing for Osimhen. Pressure makes diamonds. he is only going to perform his best when he is under pressure. if Osimhen is not under pressure he is probably not going to perform as well as he probably could have. it is best for a player like him to be under some Consistent competition, that's how players get better.

Right now if I have to compare him  with Lukaku, I will obviously say that Osimhen is the better one compared between these two. if money is not a problem Osimhen is definitely the better choice in this comparison. But again Osimhen should choose a club where he is going to have some competition and a constant need of proving himself again and again. I understand that a lot of people say that he has already proved himself. But proving himself once is not going to be the 'be all end all' of his career.

[Fiatless]

The top Italian clubs haven't done so much in the transfer window in their preparations for next season. After Inter Milan dominated the league last season, I was expecting the other top teams to have a very busy summer in other to strengthen their clubs ahead of next season. Looking at the quality of players and depth in squad of the Italian clubs, I think Inter Milan will still retain the league title come next season. Napoli had a regrettable campaign last season after winning the league title the previous season but aside appointing a new manager, they've not done much in bringing in new quality players to the team.

There have been transfer deals going on in the Seria A but they are not well known because they don't involve top players. Alvaro Morata moving from Atletico Madrid to AC Milan is one of the most pronounced transfer news. Normally Italian teams are not always active in big money spending on players, so their low interest is not strange. The transfer market is still open; maybe we might see new signings before the window closes. Inter Milan indeed remains the most prepared club for this season because they retained most of their quality players. It seems Napoli is waiting for the money they will realize from the sale of Victor Osimhen, for them to engage fully in the transfer market..

[Weawant]

If Conte could get hold of any better striker maybe Osimhen or Lukaku then the team is set to go because the other 1st eleven are not making a move to leave the club so I believe Conte has a chance of finishing either 2nd or getting lucky to win the league, but one thing is for sure that those teams that got the best of Napoli last season would find it hard to repeat the same thing this coming season.

Conte isn't even making moves in the direction of osimhen as a striker he would want to use for his squad but lukaku has been his big chase in awhile now since he arrived Napoli, of a truth a sticker is really lacking in Napoli and it's of great essence for them to be able to succeed in the league games this season, they may not be really lucky enough with winning the game but I believe they will be able to do much better then they did last season, the presence of conte will means a whole lot to Napoli but then they should try and fix their strike lapsis and hope to get the best of results there after.

[Leviathan.007]

The surprising thing in the friendly match last night against FC Nürnberg vs Juventus and the disappointing final result but is this normal?
Relying on young players is quite visible from the footage that the young players brought in defense seem unable to stem the power of FC Nürnberg in this match, even though this is a trial match, many have criticized Thiago Motta's performance at the beginning of his coaching while the players who played were not all the main squad only a few new players were fielded by Juventus in this match, but several opportunities did not produce a single goal for Juventus.

~snip~

Nurnberg is weak team in Bundesliga 2 and they are always in the middle to lower standings every season, it should be victory for Juventus even though they do not use their core players but if it is only to play against weak team it will not be problem.
But in reality in this match we see how Juventus played badly and suffered humiliating defeat, I predicted victory for Juventus with 2 goal lead or more but that did not happen.
Juventus was the one who lost with score of 3 - 0 and this is result that I think is really bad, I don't know why they lost like this but it surprised many people.

Nurnberg was not strong enough to beat a team like Juvenstos however losing one game against Nurnberg is not a good reason to say Juventus is a weak team and Motta couldn't have a good performance in this team.
Juventus is still in training nad the team is not in the good form and this makes Klose to win this match with a 3-0 result against Juventus.

[TelolettOm]

Hmm, and this will certainly be a rival in the club. The more hours of playing, the better the possibility of his performance.

The latest news is the swap deal negotiation from Man United and Inter Milan where Man United is looking forward to getting Denzel Dumfries with the option of a swap deal with Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

Yes, the idea of ​​a swap deal involving Wan-Bissaka and Dumfries is quite good, both teams benefit. Compared to Wan-Bissaka, Dumfries is 2 years older (28 compared to 26), but this player is rated higher in terms of his ability to support attacks. However, this negotiation is said to have not yet reached a progressive stage.

Yes, Inter Milan no longer need to add to its front line, and they are also now more focused on the back line. And for the swap deal with Man United, the way is increasingly open.
Although here, Man United seems more ambitious to get Dumfries, but in fact, Inter Milan also benefits from Wan-Bissaka. Indeed, Wan-Bissaka is not a top player, but at least, many consider this swap deal to be quite profitable for both parties. It's just that even until today there has been no further progress regarding the swap deal.

I actually don't want to comment on what happened to the clubs that played pre-season matches, including Juventus. Because what we saw in this match can't be used as a conclusion that their game will be like that when the season starts. In fact, one of the reasons why I don't want to bet on pre-season matches is because they are not serious about winning.

Pre-season matches do not seem to be the main benchmark for the development of a club, especially top clubs. Because so far, there have been several top clubs that even seem to be slaughtered by small clubs, even clubs that are not at all well-known easily. Even though they also fielded their main squad, right? Yes, because the main focus of the top clubs is not in this kind of match. Although some people say that this can be a benchmark, many clubs prefer to train and test their strategies and tactics during their own training. Because if in pre-season matches like this, if they push too hard and are too optimal, they are afraid of possible injuries. While those clubs certainly do not want this kind of thing to happen.

[arimamib]

Manchester city vs AC Milan which took place today.
So for now Manchester City is leading 1-0 through a goal scored by Erling Haaland. Both teams did not field many of their main players in today's match because this match was a friendly match which allowed the coaches to implement new strategies to make it easier for the young players to adapt to the senior players.
If we look at Pep Guardiola using a 4-2-3-1 formation and Fonseca using a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Well, just look at AC Milan who managed to turn the situation around where the score became 1-2 where Colombo managed to score two goals. This is Fonseca's first match as AC Milan coach after he was appointed as the new coach the previous month. He must be able to bring his first win in this match because it will increase his confidence for the next match.

[Sexylizzy2813]

If Conte could get hold of any better striker maybe Osimhen or Lukaku then the team is set to go because the other 1st eleven are not making a move to leave the club so I believe Conte has a chance of finishing either 2nd or getting lucky to win the league, but one thing is for sure that those teams that got the best of Napoli last season would find it hard to repeat the same thing this coming season.

Conte isn't even making moves in the direction of osimhen as a striker he would want to use for his squad but lukaku has been his big chase in awhile now since he arrived Napoli, of a truth a sticker is really lacking in Napoli and it's of great essence for them to be able to succeed in the league games this season, they may not be really lucky enough with winning the game but I believe they will be able to do much better then they did last season, the presence of conte will means a whole lot to Napoli but then they should try and fix their strike lapsis and hope to get the best of results there after.

True about Osimhen and Conte but things might turn around for we to see Osimhen not making a move to any club but to stay put with his club Napoli and the Lukaku move might not happen, I believe Conte isn't going to let anything spoil his plan on getting the best of Napoli and if letting Osimhen stay is going to help I think he'll do it because some of he players are fond of having Osimhen around and the chemistry they have is stronger than when you have someone like Lukaku who's new to the team, I think it would be a tough choice to choose between Lukaku and Osimhen.

[BlackBoss_]

There have been transfer deals going on in the Seria A but they are not well known because they don't involve top players. Alvaro Morata moving from Atletico Madrid to AC Milan is one of the most pronounced transfer news.

Alvaro Morata is only a good player but isn't a star player at level that can carry a whole team on his shoulder. His career statistics so far proves his quality, let's look at it now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81lvaro_Morata

His best seasons in total goals are 2023 - 2024 with 21 goals, 2 more seasons with 20 goals are 2016 - 2017 for Real Madrid, 2020 - 2021 for Juventus, and some seasons with 16, 15 goals. This shows that Morata is not a world class striker throughout his career and now he is already 32-year old.

Normally Italian teams are not always active in big money spending on players, so their low interest is not strange. The transfer market is still open; maybe we might see new signings before the window closes.

In the last 10 years, Italian clubs tend to aim at loan transfers and free transfers to reduce money spent for player transfers as well as salary. In three latest seasons, they began to get some good results in Champions League, Europa League and Conference League but there are bigger problems, they lack of good investment and focus on youth player academies. It is reflected on lack of good players in their national team and the failure in Euro 2024 is an evidence. To succeed more, Italian clubs must improve this weakness and can not rely on foreign players.

[TastyChillySauce00]

The surprising thing in the friendly match last night against FC Nürnberg vs Juventus and the disappointing final result but is this normal?

This is normal, and why not?

I mean, who really cares about the result from this game? It's a pre-season game, and it means nothing. The Juventus team doesn't play their best players. This is Motta's first match with Juventus. The players have not yet adapted to his tactics. So, give them more time to deliver.

Relying on young players is quite visible from the footage that the young players brought in defense seem unable to stem the power of FC Nürnberg in this match, even though this is a trial match, many have criticized Thiago Motta's performance at the beginning of his coaching while the players who played were not all the main squad only a few new players were fielded by Juventus in this match, but several opportunities did not produce a single goal for Juventus.

Look at the highlight of the game, and some positive stuff showed in this game. I know 3-0 is not a good result. It's especially bad against a second division team. But, only 3 first team players started. This was the first game under a new coach with a new vision. You must consider it as well.

[bestcoins1]

This is normal, and why not?

I mean, who really cares about the result from this game? It's a pre-season game, and it means nothing. The Juventus team doesn't play their best players. This is Motta's first match with Juventus. The players have not yet adapted to his tactics. So, give them more time to deliver.

In addition, preseason matches like the one experienced by Juventus are also experienced by other teams at this time which generally will not have much influence on the results of the new season later. Moreover, Motta himself still has more time to change the Juventus team to be better and could even surprise many people when Juventus can win a lot next season. Because there are many people who do not care about this preseason match so this should be considered normal because the real competition has not started yet.

[Pmalek]

But, even though the match cannot be used as a benchmark for Juventus performance for next season, at least Juventus must also be able to score a goal at least to reduce the defeat or maybe just one goal is not a problem. Because after all, in reality Juventus also got a penalty kick in the second half, and Vlahovic took the kick but unfortunately, Vlahovic also failed to score a goal even though it also happened through a penalty kick.

He was close to scoring, but his shot hit the post. His penalty kick conversion rate has been very bad since joining Juventus. I saw a piece of stat the other day that showed that he had a conversion rate of over 90% at Fiorentina. That number dropped to just above 60% with Juventus.

With this result, although it cannot be used as a full benchmark, but I think with a 3-0 defeat it will certainly be very worrying for Juventus next season. Because after all, Nurnberg is also only a team playing in the 2.Bundesliga and even, last season Nurnberg only finished in 12th position.

The German 2. Bundesliga is a strong competition. The only second-level national championship better than 2. Bundesliga is the English Championship. These two second leagues are stronger than many top-tier football leagues in Europe. Don't think for a second that teams who play in those two leagues don't have much quality. 

[giammangiato]

Looks like Spurs may go for Feredico Chiesa.

Thiago Motta do not hate Chiesa but the player has only 1 year left on his contract so or he will sign a new deal with the team or he will probably sold, since is better 20 milions now that 0 in 12 months.

The rumor is kinda sus, why Spurs go for Chiesa when they already Son in simial role and position?

What a huge mistake, I don't understand why Thiago Motta doesn't appreciate Federico Chiesa, for me he is an important player and one of the useful promises for our national team too.
Unfortunately sometimes people, in this case Thiago Motta, get fixated on bullshit.
Maybe he can't include it in his strategies, but this is definitely not Federico Chiesa's fault.