Spanish and Italian leagues settled

[g3.7]

milan lost 2-1 to udinese last night, and as the nearest side to inter that means that inter have won the title. they've actually been pretty poor, and have stumbled over the line... with a squad like that they were they only side capable of winning the trophy, but it still deserves congratulations to jose. if he stays he'll need to add 2-3 players for the first 11 to become more competitive at the highest level in europe. milan will need quite a few players, and so do juve, just to be able to challenge them.

also, villarreal beat madrid, and therefore barcelona have won back the title after two years without, but again, madrid are fairly poor and will need to sign well, and valencia and atletico always have their own problems... asking villarreal to do any better than they are would be to demand too much, so this is another league where one side is well equipped to win the title and all the expected challengers are not.

[coco]

Well done Jose, right time, right place again.

Both leagues have been piss poor this season, Barca are head and shoulders above the rest of Spain, its the most uncompetitive major league in Europe.

As for Serie A

[The Moos]

Inter really has no competition. Milan might give them a hard time when they face eachother, but in the long run they will lose.

My Juventus is even worse. Not only are we apparently cursed with injuries but we have Ranieri at the helm. And all I can say about him is that the little respect I had for him since his time at Chelsea is now long gone and is replaced by hate. He's inept and stupid and I can't stand another season with him at Juventus

[g3.7]

you'd have to be a pretty blinkered juve fan to think ranieri could do much more with that squad.

[The Moos]

you'd have to be a pretty blinkered juve fan to think ranieri could do much more with that squad.

My left testicle could do more with that squad.

[g3.7]

My left testicle could do more with that squad.

I presume it has no influence on your posting then.

[moi]

I presume it has no influence on your posting then.

Perhaps it is his right gonad which controls the keyboard. A novel variation of touch-typing.

[geezer]

My left testicle could do more with that squad.

So is it your left testicle which has signed Cannavaro for next season even though he deserted the club in their hour of need?

[The Moos]

So is it your left testicle which has signed Cannavaro for next season even though he deserted the club in their hour of need?

Neither of my testicles were involved in that affair, but they have now objections to it. After all, Cannavaro left because his contract ended and Juve didn't want to sign a new one (that's what I've heard anyway). So no hard feelings, not from me nor my testicles.

[Virosh]

I find the usage of "hard", "testicles" and "feelings" in a single sentence quite disturbing... :lol:

Maybe its just me

[andy]

Whether serie A is poor or not does not detract from Jose's record in his first 6 full seasons in managment which no one can equal

[ethicalstrategy]

It might be Inter's fourth Serie A title in a row, but the first was due to three teams above them being disqualified and the second when those same teams had been either relegated or docked points. Last year was the first time they won it fairly and squarely and even then it was only won in the last ten minutes of the final game of the season. This year, despite not playing particularly well, they have pretty much strolled to the title.

The big challenge will be to improve their record in Europe. It is difficult to see that happening without a big improvement in the squad. Whilst losing to Man U in the last 16 is no disgrace, they clearly are going to find it hard against any of the English teams next year - as indeed are all of the Italian and Spanish teams.

[TheWestwayWonder]

Well done to both Inter and Barca. Its funny (and by funny, i mean it makes me royally pissed off) that both Barca and Man Utd are trying to complete a treble in Rome. So hopefully Barca can stop Man Utd from doing it, and then the next day Platini is convicted of taking bribes (just so he cant enjoy it)

As ES says, I think Jose is going to rebuild that Inter team for Europe in the next few seasons. Hopefully not at the expense of our team

It might be Inter's fourth Serie A title in a row, but the first was due to three teams above them being disqualified and the second when those same teams had been either relegated or docked points. Last year was the first time they won it fairly and squarely and even then it was only won in the last ten minutes of the final game of the season. This year, despite not playing particularly well, they have pretty much strolled to the title.

This reminds me of a quote (falsely) attributed to Jose, supposedly when Inter were in a big slump this year. Something like "you won the first through the courts, the second because nobody was there, and the the third you barely won at all". I think Inter ended up suing whoever published it, but in my heart I like to believe he said it :D

Edited May 20, 2009 by TheWestwayWonder