⚽ Lega Serie A 🇮🇹 (Italian League) Prediction Thread 2024/2025⚽

[Distraction]

It is like Juventus has stopped after being a little active in the transfer market. I wonder why... Maybe they aren't able to find any team to buy the players they are targeting to sell this summer?    Because in this way Juventus won't only make more money. They will get rid of useless players also. Normally I wouldn't say Chiesa is useless but I'm afraid he is also in this list.

I think Chiesa just doesn't have a good chemistry with this team. I believe he can be more productive with the right choice. There are still many other players to be sold by Juventus but new season is nearly upon us...

If they don't finish the needed transfers I doubt Motta's first season more. 

[Slow death]

In Italy very few coaches try to put young talent in the team, especially in the big teams almost no one wants to take the risk of constantly using young talent, and almost no one bets on young Italians, one of the many reasons why the Italian national team is the worst in the last 50 years. Only Allegri I have seen often use promising young people but he has paid the consequences

How stupid really, young talent should be an investment for teams to make and not a way to punish coaches who use them.
Then you just have to spend millions to buy players who are in fashion, another stupid thing.
I honestly don't understand this, but I can't help it.

It's not just about Allegri which playing young players because after all, other teams in Serie A also still have young players and in fact about Inter, who won the Scudetto, also has Lautaro Martinez who is a key player in their success. Do you know how old Lautaro Martinez is now? he is currently 26 years old but they still managed to be the best in Serie A. Also, there are still other teams in Serie A who play and maximize their young talents and not only Allegri. So, I don't agree if you conclude that Allegri's dismissal was because he failed to maximize the young talent in the Juventus squad.

But the point is, teams in Serie A have been deemed still willing to play older players compared to the Premier League which relies heavily on speed. But that doesn't mean that the teams in Serie A all play older players more than young players because after all, the proof is that there are still Serie A teams that are still successful by relying on and/or maximizing young players and also about Atalanta who managed to become the team that won the Europa League last season with the young players he had as well.

From what I could see last season, Atalanta didn't have many young players. When I talk about young players, I'm referring to players under the age of 20. For example, the ages of Atalanta's players:

Ademola Lookman = is a 26-year-old player

Charles De Ketelaere = is a 23-year-old player

Matteo Ruggeri = is a 22-year-old player

Teun Koopmeiners = is a 26-year-old player

Éderson = is a 25-year-old player

El Bilal Touré = is a 22-year-old player

Giorgio Scalvini = is the only Atalanta player who is 20 years old

But most of Atalanta's players are under the age of 27. So I consider this as a team made up of young players. The problem is that there are not many Italian players at Atalanta who are very young and who stand out in the team, in the sense of being the best players on the team. This means that Atalanta is preparing players from other national teams instead of preparing players for the Italian national team. Juventus, Milan, Inter and Roma have also focused a lot on foreign players and not on Italian players.

It is like Juventus has stopped after being a little active in the transfer market. I wonder why... Maybe they aren't able to find any team to buy the players they are targeting to sell this summer?    Because in this way Juventus won't only make more money. They will get rid of useless players also. Normally I wouldn't say Chiesa is useless but I'm afraid he is also in this list.

I think Chiesa just doesn't have a good chemistry with this team. I believe he can be more productive with the right choice. There are still many other players to be sold by Juventus but new season is nearly upon us...

If they don't finish the needed transfers I doubt Motta's first season more. 

Honestly, it's hard to understand how Juventus' management thinks. When they hired Allegri, Juventus' way of playing was very focused on defense. For a while, this way of playing worked to finish in the top 4. Then, Juventus' management fired Allegri and hired Motta', who has the same style of play as Allegri.

See the signings Juventus made:

Juan Cabal (Left-Back)

Douglas Luiz (Central Midfield)

Khéphren Thuram (Central Midfield)

Marley Aké (Left Winger)

I haven't seen Juventus signing great attackers, players who score a lot of goals. But they are focusing on improving the midfield and defense. I see Juventus playing exactly as they did last season when Allegri was the coach.

[giammangiato]

..
But it can be admitted that Allegri is one of the last coaches who still often uses young players and tries to develop hidden talents, unfortunately he failed and there was no success as expected.

He was attacked too much, many coaches make mistakes that he didn't do well, but he also had little material and little budget.
I don't feel like saying that his management was a failure, rather I would say that his management was aimed at containing and mitigating the problems that were already there.

[bastisisca]

It's not just about Allegri which playing young players because after all, other teams in Serie A also still have young players and in fact about Inter, who won the Scudetto, also has Lautaro Martinez who is a key player in their success. Do you know how old Lautaro Martinez is now? he is currently 26 years old but they still managed to be the best in Serie A. Also, there are still other teams in Serie A who play and maximize their young talents and not only Allegri. So, I don't agree if you conclude that Allegri's dismissal was because he failed to maximize the young talent in the Juventus squad.

But the point is, teams in Serie A have been deemed still willing to play older players compared to the Premier League which relies heavily on speed. But that doesn't mean that the teams in Serie A all play older players more than young players because after all, the proof is that there are still Serie A teams that are still successful by relying on and/or maximizing young players and also about Atalanta who managed to become the team that won the Europa League last season with the young players he had as well.

Of course it also depends on the style of play of the championship you are going to play in, in a championship like the Italian one strongly based on positional defense, playing fast players against experienced players might not be a good solution, at the beginning obviously.  In the long run you pay for letting older players play.

[boltz]

It's not just about Allegri which playing young players because after all, other teams in Serie A also still have young players and in fact about Inter, who won the Scudetto, also has Lautaro Martinez who is a key player in their success. Do you know how old Lautaro Martinez is now? he is currently 26 years old but they still managed to be the best in Serie A. Also, there are still other teams in Serie A who play and maximize their young talents and not only Allegri. So, I don't agree if you conclude that Allegri's dismissal was because he failed to maximize the young talent in the Juventus squad.

But the point is, teams in Serie A have been deemed still willing to play older players compared to the Premier League which relies heavily on speed. But that doesn't mean that the teams in Serie A all play older players more than young players because after all, the proof is that there are still Serie A teams that are still successful by relying on and/or maximizing young players and also about Atalanta who managed to become the team that won the Europa League last season with the young players he had as well.

Of course it also depends on the style of play of the championship you are going to play in, in a championship like the Italian one strongly based on positional defense, playing fast players against experienced players might not be a good solution, at the beginning obviously.  In the long run you pay for letting older players play.

Did we actually saw positional defense in the last couple of years ? because we can clearly see the Serie A is scoring and conceding a lot of goals lately and this means that their long time defensive style is almost gone. We can also see the effect on their national squad of Italy where they barely know how to play proper defense and on the same time, they are having huge offensive problems because there are no real talents within that squad who are playing for top 5 in Serie A and that is a problem that Italian football knows about it and want to resolve it by giving a lot of minutes to Italian players in their top 4-5 football clubs.

[beerlover]

The reason is quite simple, if the team from series A is more believed that older players are more professional and have great experience in all competitions and certainly have a great mentality. Not that only relying on old players, but some teams have also begun to rely on young players who are currently in the process of building the expertise possessed by the young player.
And on the one hand when comparing EPL with series A, in my opinion it makes no difference. Because these two leagues are equally competitive and in fact there is no dominance and Inter becomes a strong candidate in UCL a few seasons ago when qualifying for the final round.

I would guess that it's also a bit of a cultural thing where they just did that for so long that they think that is the way everything works. Don't get me wrong all of these players grow up somewhere, which means that not like they do not have any good young players, they of course have some good players and that works, but I think it's clear that we are going to end up with a situation that will not be all that simple.

We could consider the fact that it is going to end up with some good results, this is why I think it is important to realize that we are going to have some issues, and we are going to face some trouble with it, and that's why we need to consider how dangerous that could be, and how young players need experience as well.

With the logic of "veterans could help us more with their experience", you will not have any young players who will grow up to have experience, meaning that if there are veterans right now, that means they played somewhere when they were young too. All in all, it is an Italian thing, it's more like a Serie A thing even, where they like using older players on their club and get that veteran leadership and do a lot better with time, should be important in that case.

[bastisisca]

Did we actually saw positional defense in the last couple of years ? because we can clearly see the Serie A is scoring and conceding a lot of goals lately and this means that their long time defensive style is almost gone. We can also see the effect on their national squad of Italy where they barely know how to play proper defense and on the same time, they are having huge offensive problems because there are no real talents within that squad who are playing for top 5 in Serie A and that is a problem that Italian football knows about it and want to resolve it by giving a lot of minutes to Italian players in their top 4-5 football clubs.

Maybe not, but it's Italian style and mentality to play defensively and start on the counterattack.  The fact that many goals have been conceded means that there are not very good defenders.  Not that the style and mentality of playing that way has disappeared.  Then in the national team, easy... all the departments suck.  Nothing is saved.

[giammangiato]

...

With the logic of "veterans could help us more with their experience", you will not have any young players who will grow up to have experience, meaning that if there are veterans right now, that means they played somewhere when they were young too. All in all, it is an Italian thing, it's more like a Serie A thing even, where they like using older players on their club and get that veteran leadership and do a lot better with time, should be important in that case.

Exactly, in my opinion it's more of a cultural problem than anything else, we rely on veterans because they know how to play, they have the experience of making the right tactical fouls without being punished and they know when to do certain things.  In this way, however, everything stops, the young people in the end are the ones who run and who will become the veterans.

[babo]

Let's hope that the season that is about to begin will be beautiful and fun
From my point of view I also have a further reason to see it given that the team of my heart, Atalanta, had a good season last season and I expect great things this year.
We will see.

[bastisisca]

Exactly, in my opinion it's more of a cultural problem than anything else, we rely on veterans because they know how to play, they have the experience of making the right tactical fouls without being punished and they know when to do certain things.  In this way, however, everything stops, the young people in the end are the ones who run and who will become the veterans.

Italy has always played this way, defensively. If you remember in Italy 90, I saw the games on tape obviously as an adult since I was very young, Italy played a super defensive way, often passing the ball to the goalkeeper who collected it with his hands. Then they introduced the rule to avoid this. So we have defensive play in our DNA.

[Distraction]

See the signings Juventus made:

Juan Cabal (Left-Back)

Douglas Luiz (Central Midfield)

Khéphren Thuram (Central Midfield)

Marley Aké (Left Winger)

I haven't seen Juventus signing great attackers, players who score a lot of goals. But they are focusing on improving the midfield and defense. I see Juventus playing exactly as they did last season when Allegri was the coach.

The signings for the midfield are decent. I don't have much to say against that. However looking to the general work they have done in the market so far, I don't see a good result yet.    They need a big change in the squad but not such action is taken at all. They still can't sell the players they want and they don't make more signings. Then how do you expect to make progress, right?

There are Vlahovic and Milik in the attacking area. Milik can't be trusted. But Vlahovic is a decent forward in fact. He wasn't fitting Allegri's game but hopefully he will be fitting into Motta's game.

[giammangiato]

Let's hope that the season that is about to begin will be beautiful and fun
From my point of view I also have a further reason to see it given that the team of my heart, Atalanta, had a good season last season and I expect great things this year.
We will see.

Juventus is doing a lot, they are buying experimental players and even doing some stupid things (like selling Federico Chiesa, you have no idea how angry this thing made me).
So I hope that after two really bad seasons, we see a team that is alive and playing matches. Is my only hope.

[ILuckyGuyI]

Let's hope that the season that is about to begin will be beautiful and fun
From my point of view I also have a further reason to see it given that the team of my heart, Atalanta, had a good season last season and I expect great things this year.
We will see.

Atalanta were great. I agree with you. Finishing the Serie A in top 4 and winning the Europa League title. These are really great achievements considering what their target normally is. 

After that we first heard rumours like Gasperini would leave for a PL team. But he refuted it by making a clear statement on his future. Atalanta is lucky to still have him after such a strong season. But I don't see them in the Serie A title race for now. It is really difficult to keep such a consistent time period against tough competitors. Especially to keep up with Inter? It is even harder.    They are going to be in the CL too so I'm curious.

[babo]

Atalanta were great. I agree with you. Finishing the Serie A in top 4 and winning the Europa League title. These are really great achievements considering what their target normally is. 

After that we first heard rumours like Gasperini would leave for a PL team. But he refuted it by making a clear statement on his future. Atalanta is lucky to still have him after such a strong season. But I don't see them in the Serie A title race for now. It is really difficult to keep such a consistent time period against tough competitors. Especially to keep up with Inter? It is even harder.    They are going to be in the CL too so I'm curious.

Yes, I know, I love this team because they don't do races, but they do marathons. He doesn't push by spending more than he doesn't have. There was a period in which he was in and out of Serie B but he built a solid team little by little. Now he is taking part in the Champions League, once again, he has won a lot and is committed to building, little by little without rushing.

[samuraijin]

It is like Juventus has stopped after being a little active in the transfer market. I wonder why... Maybe they aren't able to find any team to buy the players they are targeting to sell this summer?    Because in this way Juventus won't only make more money. They will get rid of useless players also. Normally I wouldn't say Chiesa is useless but I'm afraid he is also in this list.

I think Chiesa just doesn't have a good chemistry with this team. I believe he can be more productive with the right choice. There are still many other players to be sold by Juventus but new season is nearly upon us...

If they don't finish the needed transfers I doubt Motta's first season more. 

Chiesa's performance decline was caused by Allegri's presence at Juventus during Allegri's tenure several times Chiesa was not played in important matches and was always a substitute player, this is why in the Thiago Motta era he was not on the radar of the main players and instead became a player who would be sold by Juventus, the decline in performance was not only at the club but also spread to the Italian squad yesterday, even he found it difficult to prove to his second coach, so I think Chiesa has to prove himself elsewhere if not it will be difficult later to get a club that will recruit him, and several clubs have refused the offer set by Juventus who want a sale of 9 million Euros, I hope Chiesa can rise out there and prove himself still worthy of being a scary player on the field.

[bastisisca]

--snip--
After that we first heard rumours like Gasperini would leave for a PL team. But he refuted it by making a clear statement on his future. Atalanta is lucky to still have him after such a strong season. But I don't see them in the Serie A title race for now. It is really difficult to keep such a consistent time period against tough competitors. Especially to keep up with Inter? It is even harder.    They are going to be in the CL too so I'm curious.

In reality he chose to stay if I remember correctly, which is why Antonio Conte was chosen by Napoli. At least that's what I remember months ago, then maybe I'm wrong. The football transfer market in this hot summer window is frenetic and it is possible that he has gone away to experience new emotions.
https://www.corrieredellosport.it/news/calcio/serie-a/atalanta/2024/05/25-128008389/gasperini_ha_scelto_resta_allatalanta_il_napoli_va_su_conte

[giammangiato]

...After that we first heard rumours like Gasperini would leave for a PL team....

I'm sorry that he's leaving Atalanta, Gasperini had done very well in recent years, and it's no coincidence that Atalanta has proven to be a strong and fearsome team and has also won some important things.
Now he will go to the Champions League, who knows which coach he will have. Is there any news on this?

[Alpha Marine]

It is like Juventus has stopped after being a little active in the transfer market. I wonder why... Maybe they aren't able to find any team to buy the players they are targeting to sell this summer?    Because in this way Juventus won't only make more money. They will get rid of useless players also. Normally I wouldn't say Chiesa is useless but I'm afraid he is also in this list.

Juventus is a situation that is actually worse than we know. They have finished the past two financial years with losses. The year before they closed with a loss of 124 million and last year which ended on July 30th, they closed with about 200 million. That means that haven't made a profit in two years.
Due to the scandals, they faced last season, their jersey sponsor, Jeep is paying less than they paid before and even Addidas is paying 6 million less than before. All these losses have made it very difficult for them to sign players without selling.
They don't have a player they can sell for a high amount and the Chiesa they wish to sell is a difficult one to sell because he has dropped in form drastically and he's injury-prone.

If they don't finish the needed transfers I doubt Motta's first season more. 

Juventus have made making it past the round of 16 of the Champions League and winning the league their priority. If they're lucky they can get to the quarter-finals of the Champions League, but with their current squad, I don't see them winning the Serie A.
They have a good coach even though he's experienced, but there is only so much he can do with the current players he has.

[AprilioMP]

2024/25 season, my prediction is that the Serie A title will be taken by Juventus from Inter Milan as the team that won the Scudetto last season.
Thiago Motta will try to give his all to Juventus with a strategy and tactics more like what was given to Bologna last season even though Motta has only played for Inter Milan and Genoa as a professional player.

I know that each of us has a prediction regarding which team will win the Serie A trophy this season, but Serie A has not started yet, I think giving a prediction from the start is more challenging than giving a prediction when Serie A is already running.

[beerlover]

Chiesa's performance decline was caused by Allegri's presence at Juventus during Allegri's tenure several times Chiesa was not played in important matches and was always a substitute player, this is why in the Thiago Motta era he was not on the radar of the main players and instead became a player who would be sold by Juventus, the decline in performance was not only at the club but also spread to the Italian squad yesterday, even he found it difficult to prove to his second coach, so I think Chiesa has to prove himself elsewhere if not it will be difficult later to get a club that will recruit him, and several clubs have refused the offer set by Juventus who want a sale of 9 million Euros, I hope Chiesa can rise out there and prove himself still worthy of being a scary player on the field.

Chiesa isn't a player that is "useless", but at the same time if they think that they can sell him and make some money from it, then he is not a player that they can't afford to lose, he would be good to have, but if he is sold then they won't suddenly become terrible because of him neither. This is why I believe that they are looking to sell him for a good price, if they can get a good price for him then they are going to be willing to sell him, but if they can't find anyone to pay good money for him then we are not going to see anything changing anytime soon neither.

We can't really assume that it is going to be easy to handle this sensitive issue because it takes a while for them to have something similar to what they would be asking for him, so they may not get any offers from anyone as well. This is why I think it's clear that we are going to probably see Chiesa staying. Juventus is basically just happy to keep him, happy to sell him for a lot, that's the situation.