OK, so the pundits do talk crap about Italian football – but is this surprising? They talk crap about everything, generally. It has to be said, if they have this pre-formed impression about Italian sides – dirty, defensive, boring – then Juve did nothing to change these opinions. If you thought that about Italian teams before last night, your opinion will simply be reinforced. But the commentators on ITV and Sky have always been anti-Italian…to the point where I’m surprised it’s even an issue anymore.

And Dave, I wouldn’t say it has reached “potty levels” – well, certainly not so more than two years ago following the 2003 tournament. After two boring games between Inter and Milan in the semi-final, then an equally boring game in the final, that’s when the hatred towards Italian sides was at its peak, in my opinion. The inexplicable bias towards Real Madrid, once they were the only non-Italians left in the tournament, was incredible.

But it’s worth remembering, to a certain extent, that the pundits are simply saying what the majority of viewers want to hear. Does a typical English football fan want to hear pundits describing where Juventus tactically went wrong over the two legs? I don’t believe so – they want to see people criticizing the Italian teams for being dull, cynical, defensive, etc etc, and they want pundits to state that it’s a great thing the Italians are out. Of course, there are those of us who do want decent analysis, but we’re the minority, and (maybe being too cynical) not usually the type of people who have Sky…the people who do have Sky want bog-standard, “Yeah, Seedorf crosses the ball, and, end of the day, Inazghi don’t miss them, he’s a great goal-poacher, whatever you think of his diving…” analysis.

That’s why Sky won’t hire Gabrielle Marcotti as a pundit, but they will hire Jamie Redknapp…

Like someone said we dont have any class british players in seria and Sky/itv done have rights to show seria over here.........



Anyone loved how they dissed milan for 895 mins on itv1 only for milan to win 3-1 then they had to begrudly give milan praise

This thread has shown the (high) level of intelligence on this forum...despite our own particular club leanings..
Shame that the various pundits who are too busy with their own heads up their a***s won't take the time to read it...

"In the 1980s, I suspect that even Houghton and Quinn would have leapt at the chance to play in Serie A. The difficulties usually came when the players couldn't adapt to living in Italy ('It was like living in a foreign country', moaned Ian Rush on his return from Juve...), but Italy was seen as the place to go"

Well, more players than I thought then, I suppose also especially with the ban on English clubs in Europe in the 80s was going to have an effect as well. Liam Brady was at Juve for a bit too wasn't he? I forgot about Gazza!

It's a good thread this, I don't have Sky so I've missed all this really, I've no time for the jingoistic rubbish as much as most people but, like Michael said, I think a few people are getting a bit over the top. If you think about it, it's just like that in England, it's just the way it is, I'm not saying it's right, but you're raging against a machine if you think you're going to change it! This kind of thing is tied up in the mentality of a lot of English people I think, all nice and gentile on the surface but if there is an opportunity to be judgmental then yabadabadoo! I think it's all related to English people's strange distorted ideas of how to be a bit patriotic myself, but I'm not going there, I'll waffle on forever.

I wanted to watch the rugby games over the six nations but if I'd have got annoyed as I did the first time I heard that infuriating little jingoistic gimp Brian Moore, then I wouldn't have watched any of the games or I'd have smashed the TV with something like I remember my dad nearly doing once when he was commentating!

Anyway the World Cup's coming up - I really think you shouldn't watch the telly if you're going to fume everytime an English commentator/pundit comes out with something slightly or lots jingostic or just plain annoying, your heads'll blow up

That's because Italian Football in general has done nothing to change it's negative image.

There is no point denying it, the likes of Nedved and Materazzi make Italian Football look ridiculous.

Inter are eternal losers, whilst Juventus don't have a clue about attacking football if it bit them on the a$$. Even Milan had to rely on their usual dose of luck to see off Lyon (remember PSV at the San Siro last season?), but nonetheless at least Milan are class on their day.

IMO, Serie A is definitely not as good as the EPL or La Liga. Where are your Villarreals and Arsenals?

I wish I could give CL spots to Fiorentina AND Roma instead of the usual dross Juventus serve up in Europe.

No its purely down to the fact of sky not showing Seria A and enlgand haveing no major stars in Seria either......

As for the not good enough well whats the biggest compotions of them all ?? WOrld cup/european cup (both international) and champiosn league (club)

Italy kils england and spain in these. Club wise name the last 6 teams to reach the cl final how many spanish and english ?? Whens the last time spain or england where inteh final of a the WC ur european cup.

quote:

Originally posted by *ronaldo9*:
That's because Italian Football in general has done nothing to change it's negative image.

There is no point denying it, the likes of Nedved and Materazzi make Italian Football look ridiculous.

Inter are eternal losers, whilst Juventus don't have a clue about attacking football if it bit them on the a$$. Even Milan had to rely on their usual dose of luck to see off Lyon (remember PSV at the San Siro last season?), but nonetheless at least Milan are class on their day.

IMO, Serie A is definitely not as good as the EPL or La Liga. Where are your Villarreals and Arsenals?

I wish I could give CL spots to Fiorentina AND Roma instead of the usual dross Juventus serve up in Europe.

Yes, because real played some lovely attacking football didn't they...

Stop talking out of your ar5e and climb back into the hole you've been hiding in since your beloved merangues have shown their true colours

quote:

There is no point denying it, the likes of Nedved and Materazzi make Italian Football look ridiculous.

And I suppose the likes of Didier Drogba, Joey Barton, Steven Gerrard etc. behave perfectly on the football pitch.

You've also got a cheek criticising Juventus, what with the superb stuff Real Madrid have served up in recent years.

quote:

I wish I could give CL spots to Fiorentina AND Roma instead of the usual dross Juventus serve up in Europe.

Yes, let's decide the team by who is most "attacking", rather than who is the best team...

FOUR seasons of Real attacking and losing, and you still haven't got this football lark, have you?

quote:

Originally posted by MICHAEL_LA_VIOLA:

quote:

I wish I could give CL spots to Fiorentina AND Roma instead of the usual dross Juventus serve up in Europe.

Yes, let's decide the team by who is most "attacking", rather than who is the best team...

FOUR seasons of Real attacking and losing, and you still haven't got this football lark, have you?

You missed the point.

Why do you think Barca, Milan, Villarreal and Arsenal are in the semis?

Simple, it's because they combine attacking potency with a collective team effort in defense.

My point was never suggesting only attacking teams should be in the Champions League, it was merely pointing out that teams who aren't bothered to cross the bloody half-way line will continue to lose and good riddance.

quote:

Originally posted by macxz:
Must be a West Brit mentality as the usually excellent Johnny Giles on RTE couldnt resist having a kick at the Italian League either. Everyone knows Juve were poor over the two matches, but the attitude from Giles and Ray Houghton.. was ridiculous. "The Italian League must be rubbish if Juventus are leading it by 9 points." (to paraphrase)(

I work with Ray Houghton, nice guy, but hard to have a conversation with. The man is stubborn.

quote:

You missed the point.

Why do you think Barca, Milan, Villarreal and Arsenal are in the semis?

Simple, it's because they combine attacking potency with a collective team effort in defense.

My point was never suggesting only attacking teams should be in the Champions League, it was merely pointing out that teams who aren't bothered to cross the bloody half-way line will continue to lose and good riddance.

Greece, Euro 2004
Porto, Champions League 2004
Chelsea, Premiership 2005/06
Liverpool, Champions League 2005
Juventus, Scudetto 2005/06

All teams which play fundamentally defensive football.

I've given up (well i'm trying to) getting worked up at all the anti-italian rubbish you get on british tv. I've stopped watching pre-game build up and listening to the post-game analysis. If I'm watching on my own I'll often mute the commentary and just listen to music. Although this ruins the game somewhat!

But there are 100's of examples of what you've all been saying. Anyone remember Roma-Dynamo Kiev last season. Mexes who'd been a Roma player for about 2 months stupidly kicks out at a player. Richard Keys said it's because he was Italian, Glen Hoddle points out the player is french, Keys then shrugs off this comment and says: 'well it's the mentality he's picked up'. After 2 months?!

Also, apparently there's statistically more diving in the PL then in Serie A and La Liga. And we all known that there are more goals scored in serie a then in La liga. This information is generally ignored by the BBC, ITV and sky however.

Let's just hope Marcello Lippi gets things right and plays the kind of football we've been seeing from Italy to shut these morons up.

quote:

Originally posted by ®osa:
Also, apparently there's statistically more diving in the PL then in Serie A and La Liga.

I'm not quite sure how that can be proved - although I wouldn't be surprised.

quote:

I work with Ray Houghton, nice guy, but hard to have a conversation with. The man is stubborn.

Funny you should say that as he did strike me as a bloke who was a bit "thick"...(ie stubborn). But he's a Scumpool vet so no surprises that the likes of he and that pondlife "Lauwro" are not fans of Juve or Italian football.

quote:

I work with Ray Houghton, nice guy, but hard to have a conversation with. The man is stubborn.

Funny you should say that, but he seemed to be a bloke that was "thick"... (ie stubborn)

But I'm not surprised that he and "Lawro" are not keen on Juve or Italian teams as both are Sc*m Pool vets.

quote:

Originally posted by ®osa:
Also, apparently there's statistically more diving in the PL then in Serie A and La Liga.

If you believe everything the BBC/ITV say it's only the foreign players who dive anyway. They seem completely oblivious to the fact that English players dive just as much as the foreign players. If Didier Drogba was English, his recent exploits would have hardly been mentioned, if at all.

quote:

Originally posted by macxz:

quote:

I work with Ray Houghton, nice guy, but hard to have a conversation with. The man is stubborn.

Funny you should say that, but he seemed to be a bloke that was "thick"... (ie stubborn).

He is wonderful to work with. Having played at the top level he can see things in a match that you'd never have realised. He is also very passionate about his work.

I suspect that many of these pundits just get caught up in the "official stance". Usually when anyone starts thinking "out of the box" they're quickly silenced.

Platt, Wilkins, Gullit (rossonero kn0b head) and Francis are the only ones who ever talk an ounce of sense and we all know where they played...

Now Wilkins is a pundit i used to look forward to listening to. He's on a lot of the old Vids I have of Football Italia. He's a breath of fresh air compared to Paul Elliott, Don Howe et al. Joe Jordan wasn't too bad at times either, and his pronounciation of Ravanelli was great!