Are Bundesliga and Serie A done?

S wrote:

Lord Spencer wrote:Juventus could be caught if Tevez or Pirlo get injured. Especially Tevez, because they don't have a good backup for him.

Like the previous 6-7 matchdays ? When we scored 4 goals pretty much every game ? Also lately he's been rotating with Marchisio so he isnt exactly a guaranteed starter now.One thing for sure,we're not as dependable on Pirlo than before.Infact , i feel we play better,at much faster pace and much more direct without Pirlo going by the last one month or so.

Based on your match with Lazio, you were desperately trying to control the Tempo in the first half and only managed a tie due to Tevez's brilliance and Llorente's header, not to mention Storari's form.

Pirlo might not be missed against scrubs, but against the bigger teams is when you would really need him. Nonetheless, it is Tevez and Vidal that helps you most against the weaker teams. So losing Tevez would help. Vidal is important, but Marchisio can do a half decent job of subbing him, he cannot do the same for Pirlo.

At this point i think Llorente is more important than both Pirlo and Tevez (although the las one it's debatable)... He scored the last minute winner in the Udinese match where we suffered, scored the equaliser las night when we looked hopeless, same scenario with Real Madrid home...Scores the first goal in the 2nd half of the Livorno match where we struggled to create chances, again in the match with Cagliari where Juve looked bad, Llorente scores the equaliser at 1st juve chance created, 1st goal vs napoli etc... Also, he provided important assists...
When Juve looked out of solutions and in important moments of the games he was there, he is a match changer, he can score a header in any moment ...
too bad we missed him at the beginning of the season in UCL ...

As a general rule of thumb, watching leagues before saying they're finished is very helpful.

Serie A has a lot of teams that can give Juventus trouble, and even if no one beats them until the crucial game with Roma on the penultimate match-day, all they need is two draw to set that up to be essentially the final. Bundesliga on the other hand is finished barring a miracle. Bayern was hardly at their best missing both Ribery and Robben and yet still strolled past Borussia Monchengladbach their closest rivals. There's just no one anywhere near them in Bundesliga at the moment.

10 point lead, game in hand, Dortmund is injury ravaged while Leverkusen is, well, Leverkusen, a massive +36 GD. Come on guys, Bundesliga, for all its quality, is a done deal for Bayern. Would I love to see them have the meltdown of the new century, yes, yes I would but I would also like Kerry Washington to have my babies too.

zigra wrote:Lol wtf is this? Everyone knows Serie A is crap at the moment and no it won't change soon. Oh and pls don't tell me about how much potential your crap players and teams have. I really don't care. Just watch the results over the next years and you'll see.

Still better than poverty Dutch league where Italian second division flops become goalscoring legends.

I honestly could care less if we won the scudetto this season. It's the icing on the cake if we do, but it's ultimately not Roma's top objective.

If Juve are slipping up against a scrub team like Lazio though, they have some big problems. Fiorentina and Napoli might just give them better challenges. And then there's Roma in May.

No disrespect to you Lewis (or any Roma fan that shares said belief) but I feel you guys care very much if the team doesn't win the Scudetto. You guys have been challenging for half a season now and doing quite well. Something of real worth should be shown for the team's efforts.

But yeah, Serie A is far from over...

Well, a 6 points lead with games on Olimpico, San Siro and away at Napoli(where juve didn't win for a long time) left, nothing is decided, especially seeing how Roma is playing...
It will be an interesting battle between two very ambitious coaches and projects ...

Doc wrote:No disrespect to you Lewis (or any Roma fan that shares said belief) but I feel you guys care very much if the team doesn't win the Scudetto. You guys have been challenging for half a season now and doing quite well. Something of real worth should be shown for the team's efforts.

But yeah, Serie A is far from over...

Well yeah but you'll want to note that I mentioned that I personally don't care. The players believe in the scudetto as does Garcia himself. I personally do not and I'm sure the Roma board are of a like mind. Getting into the CL has been Roma's focus for quite a few seasons now. I believe we'll get there and if we just so happen to win the scudetto on the way there, all the better....if we fall short, oh well...as long as we make the CL. That's what matters if you ask any Roma fan at the end of the day this season.

 winning scudetto is not something that one can pretend they don't want and catching up after being 8 points behind is surely would feel great but what i want personally is the nike jersey with pjanic on the back with the first star on Roma's crest .  

Doc wrote:10 point lead, game in hand, Dortmund is injury ravaged while Leverkusen is, well, Leverkusen, a massive +36 GD. Come on guys, Bundesliga, for all its quality, is a done deal for Bayern. Would I love to see them have the meltdown of the new century, yes, yes I would but I would also like Kerry Washington to have my babies too.

I don't think anyone's disagreeing with you.

juventus101 wrote:To be honest Bayern were obviously the better team. But it has to be said that not one time since Pep took over does this Bayern team look even close to the level of last year. Id say theyre not even on the level of Bayern two years ago. I believe Pep has ruined this team. I guess we'll find out when they come up against some big teams in the CL. But this is not the same team that dominated Juventus and destroyed Barcelona last season. I think its still a safe bet to say their the best in the world still, but jot to the extent tgat they were last season obviously.

Casciavit wrote:Boring game so far.

By the looks of it, seems like Pep has ruined the well oiled machine that is Bayern Munich.

B-Mac wrote:Dortmund will walk Bundi this year

Suarez99 wrote:What took Jupp 2 years to make this Bayern team into a side capable of dominating europe for years to come is being destroyed by Pep at an alarming rate.

This team are going nowhere under him.

halamadrid2 wrote:Pep destroying Bayern

Yikes' fellas.

Well, the real test for Pep will come when all players are fit and want to play. Right now, injuries help him quite a bit with the line-up and whom he puts onto the bench.

Indeed, but I think its fairly safe to say, he hasnt "ruined" anything

He took over an completed squad. At one point Jupp said himself that he wanted to continue coaching but was pushed to retirements home because of the arrival of Pep.

Well, the main problem was that Jupp Heynckes didn't want to commit early to a contract extension (early = before the Pep Guardiola contact was made) as he wasn't sure whether he wanted to continue coaching or to retire. When the Guardiola contact was made, it was not really possible anymore to extend with Jupp as it would have looked very bad to tell Pep: "Umm, we don't want you after all as Jupp wants to stay on".

the xcx wrote:He took over an completed squad. At one point Jupp said himself that he wanted to continue coaching but was pushed to retirements home because of the arrival of Pep.

That may be true but he is doing an amazing job keeping this team for the future..
Gotze and Thiago buys were beyond great for the teams next 8-9 years.

McLewis wrote:I honestly could care less if we won the scudetto this season. It's the icing on the cake if we do, but it's ultimately not Roma's top objective.

If Juve are slipping up against a scrub team like Lazio though, they have some big problems. Fiorentina and Napoli might just give them better challenges. And then there's Roma in May.

Slipping up? We played with 10 players and outplayed them could have won but we didn't. I've never seen Serie A team playing like that with ten men plus Lazio always give us headaches

well then its napoli   didn't watch the game but judging by players nazio didn't take coi seriously and despite nazio's bad season i think they are better now with reja and the fact that they put up a fight against juve indicates that they want to improve on table . About juve my opinion is still the same Juve=pirlo , he on form playing = juve on form ,winning and Nazio game proved my point
overtaking juve is not the problem if Roma wins its own games , fortune favors the brave   Forza Roma

Lazio are annoying to watch, you just know there will be catenaccio from them

McLewis wrote:I honestly could care less if we won the scudetto this season. It's the icing on the cake if we do, but it's ultimately not Roma's top objective.

If Juve are slipping up against a scrub team like Lazio though, they have some big problems. Fiorentina and Napoli might just give them better challenges. And then there's Roma in May.

slip? they were a man down from like the 20th minute and pulled out the draw. and aside from a few set pieces and a nice shot from balde, Lazio had nothing in return. it is faar from over, but I think Saturdays game was more encouraging than it was a sign of anyone "slipping".

Lazio were awful and despite being a man down, Juve had their chances to win that match. Didn't take them.

Unless your telling me that they are human after all and not as invincible as we thought (), I certainly expected Juve to win that match and was genuinely surprised when they didn't have enough in the tank to do it.

and them looking like that had nothing to do with how Juve was playing, they laid down after the penalty, and juve couldn't close the deal. the amount of men on the field is irrelevant too I suppose.  sounds like your skewing this a bit.
And no one is invincible, its a matter of, whats the probability that roma play flawless enough while at the same time Juve slip up enough to let you back in the door.

Like I said, I have very little interest in the scudetto. If Juve continue to slip then I expect Roma to take advantage, just as we did this past weekend. If we slip up in turn and it doesn't affect our CL chances, I'm not going to lose sleep over that either.

From a footballing perspective though, I thought Juve's finishing and final ball were just not there when they have been so many other times this season. The game was there for the taking and it looked at times as if the shoe was on the other foot, truth be told.

So are you saying that Juve aren't allowed to make slip ups ? We are 6p ahead bro don't worry the scudetto is ours

DeviAngel wrote:So are you saying that Juve aren't allowed to make slip ups ? We are 6p ahead bro don't worry the scudetto is ours

With a Roma side who are hungry on your heels, that's absolutely right.

If Juve want that 3rd title, slip ups are not allowed. I would think that Juve fans would agree with me on this.

It's puzzling and mildly amusing that I'm getting push back on it.