The End of an Era

  Inter has won the Italian title for the fifth straight year.  Her misstep a few games back nearly cost her the title, and I believe this is the last title that Inter will claim for a while. The past Serie A season has shown signs of change, which I believe are reflected in the final standings and overall performances.  While Inter did win yet again, it was a more difficult win, as Roma came from behind to claim top spot for a couple of weeks.  This was Inter's first serious challenge at the title in the five years that it has held it.  Roma had a tremendous season, starting off shakily with Coach Spalletti leaving.  But Roma managed to hire Ranieri, who guided the team on a twenty-odd non-losing streak that took them momentarily into first.  

   Milan finished third, very disappointing for many of the fans. Disappointed more by the team's performance than position in the table.  If you don't win, then it doesn't matter, really; but clinching the Champion's League berth is also a main objectives of the Italian clubs.  Milan had already clinched that last week.  Milan had many lackluster performances, and lost points in ties and unexpected losses against Palermo, Parma and Udinese.

  A trio of clubs reared up and challenged the big guns for those European spots: Sampdoria, Palermo, and Napoli.  It is important worth noting that in the top six clubs, there are three from center and southern Italy (northern clubs generally dominate the top spots): Roma, Napoli and Palermo, the latter also representing the isle region of Sicily.  Northern: Inter and Milan (both Milan) and Sampdoria (Genoa).  There is more southern and central representation in general in the table this year.  There are four teams from the deep south (two from Sicily), and one from the other isle region of Sardinia, and none of them relegated.  Central and northern teams lost out here, as Livorno (newly promoted), Siena, and Atalanta (Bergamo) go straight to Serie B, while Bologna must survive a playout round.

   It was exciting to see other surprises this year.  Parma and Bari, teams newly promoted from Serie B, had great seasons, and beat their fair share of top notch teams.  Bari's Paulo Barreto ended up in the top ten for scoring.  Zaccardo, famous for his World Cup 2006 own goal, was spectacular in defense this year and scored 5 goals to boot.   

  Juventus, la Vecchia Signora, shocked and disappointed fans everywhere since, finishing in seventh place, she failed to qualify for any of the European cups.  Team management, coaching, and players have drawn a great deal of criticism this season, and I have also expressed my concern for Lippi choosing 9 Juve players for the WC team (while I think he should have chosen De Ceglie over Zambrotta).  

  There were other disappointments, such as Fiorentina.  Like Juventus, she went from Champion's League play to not even qualifying the following year.  She had started off well, and then got knocked out early from the Champions League.  Fiorentina did well enough in league play for a bit; but then around the half way mark, she slipped up and struggled since.   I would say Fiorentina's decline began when Adrian Mutu was found positive for doping and disqualified for nine months; an adept playmaker and goalscorer, la Viola's attack has disintegrated in his absence.  Even national team forward Gilardino struggled to find his form.  Fiorentina's management must have deeply regretted trading Pazzini to Sampdoria over the summer.  

  Overall, it seemed that a strategy has been adopted by the Italian league, all except Inter, and it has been successful in many ways to overthrow league expectations and hierarchies.  It's called downsizing.  Financial pressures have been squeezing clubs for years, and they have been forced to drastically cut spending on players.  Indeed, Milan and Juve fans have protested the most often and the loudest this year.  They demanded big-named players, but saw their favorites leave (for big bucks), such as Kaká, and replaced by mediocre ones, low cost ones or both.  Milan fans have just launched a Facebook page against club president Silvio Berlusconi.

   Other teams have adopted many strategies for acquiring players.  Livorno did the same as Milan, and was unsuccessful.  The management sold their second top scorer, Diamanti, when they were promoted, and then Serie A the Livornese attack turned out to be shockingly sterile; even more shocking when you recall that Tavano and Lucarelli generally score over sixteen goals apiece.  This year was probably their worst ever, as they were out injured much of the season, and nabbed only a handful of goals apiece.

  The best tactic that the clubs are taking now are bringing up players from the youth teams.  Milan, who has been harshly criticized for her "old" lineup, has introduced several young players, including Antonini, a defender who scored in the final game of his debut season.  Juventus also has a number of younger players, as well as Roma, Parma, Bari and Napoli.  Even Inter, with its mountains of euros, has Balotelli and Santon, two national team hopefuls come up from its own youth ranks.  Juve fans, you criticize now, but you wait and see in a couple of years...  On the one hand, in the short run some of the bigger teams have suffered.  However, I am sure they will benefit in the longer run.  In the short run, the smaller teams have benefited greatly.

I hope this trend continues.  I feel sure that if it does, the national team will also take on a new face for the Euro 2012 and Fifa 2014.