Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas!



Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all! Thank you for your interest and support to Italianpreviews!

We're giving a short break till 7th of January. From the January on Italianpreviews will help you about the team news , transfers and the betting tips.

All the best at 2012!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Official : Malesani sacked



Genoa have officialy sacked Alberto Malesani after humiliating defeat against Napoli.

Genoa have signed with new coach Pasquale Marino.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Official : Mangia sacked



Palermo have sacked young coach Devis Mangia after losing the Sicilian Derby against Catania 2-0.

Bortolo Mutti expecting to be new coach of Palermo.

Lavezzi is out for a month



Napoli will miss Lavezzi about a month , Argentinean star picked up a muscle injury during at Sunday's game against Roma.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Official : Napoli sign Vargas



Napoli have signed Copa Sudamericana winners Universidad de Chile's star forward Vargas
for €15M.

22 years old starlet took attention of Valencia , Chelsea , Manchester City ,Inter , Arsenal and Liverpool but Napoli moved fast and won the race.

On November 2011 he was chosen as a candidate for South American Footballer of the Year and on december, he was chosen Chilean Footballer of the Year 2011.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

AC Milan - Siena Preview



After an unexpected result and disappointing performance against Bologna , Milan will be searching for three points in San Siro against Siena.

Actually we can name this one as a must win game for the Rossoneri while Juventus are going to have an easy game at home and likely to win.

Milan had a great streak since Juventus defeat, but Allegri's side gave signs of losing that outstanding form at Genoa game. Against Genoa , Milan didn't impress , Kaladze's mistake changed everything and Milan managed to get all three points from Marasi.

Last weekend against Bologna , Milan played really bad and Bologna showed an unexpected performance , Bologna played very intelligent and deserved to win. Refree mistakes stole three points from Bologna.

Milan defense's and Amelia's mistakes were notable. Milan midfield couldn't control the game and defense left big gaps to Bologna forwards.

That's certain that Milan are struggling without Nesta and Zambrotta.

Milan are not in better situation than last week. Abate and Antonini will miss Siena game. Nesta , Zambrotta , Yepes are still injured.

Abbiati is back from injury but he's likely to sit on the bench. Amelia will start between the pipes who had conceeded two amateurish goals against Bologna.

Nocerino is back from injury too and he's expecting to start in first 11.

Milan are celebrating their 112th year since from yesterday. There will be great ambiance in San Siro tonight.

Allegri is in trouble to choose defenders against Siena.

Young De Sciglio expecting to start in first 11 , Taiwo will get LB position (who wants to leave Milan and didn't improve since his arrival) , Bonera will be partner of Silva on CB role.

These four players have never played together in a game.

There are some rumours that Milan might use Pato in exchange for Tevez transfer , Pato has to show better performance to stay in Milan while he's flirting with Barbara Berlusconi :)

Milan 4-3-1-2 (probable) Amelia , De Sciglio - Bonera - Silva - Taiwo - Van Bommel - Nocerino - Aquilani - Boateng - Ibrahimovic - Pato (Robinho)

Siena have boosted moral with passing Palermo in Sicily at Italian Cup game and reaching quarter finals for the first time in their history after a sensational eight goals trailer.

To play in Sicily is always a hard for the teams and Siena have showed excellent performance after three consecutive defeats in Serie A.

Siena will miss Vergassola and Belmonte. Defender Del Grosso will play with a mask after breaking his nose.

Siena have quality and in-form offensive players as Calaio and Italian U21 international Destro. Also D’Agostino and Brienza are the players who can give trouble to Milan with their creativeness.

Siena got nothing to lose and will try to use advantage of Milan's numerous injuries and defensive troubles.

The Rossoneri have no luxury to drop points anymore while Juventus keeping their unbeaten run and leading Serie A.

Milan will be eager to get all three points and give a good game in front of their fans at their 112th years' celebrations.

Scoring is not a problem for Allegri's team with such players Pato , Zlatan , Robinho , Boateng , Aquilani and even Seedorf but their defensive problems might cause troubles against under-dogs Siena.

Expectations over a high scoring game.

Bet : Take Over 3 goals @2.30

Defensive problems



Abate and Antonini will miss Siena game due injuries. Milan were already having problems without Nesta , Yepes and Zambrotta on the defense.

De Sciglio or Bonera likely to replace Abate, if Bonera replaces Mexes will start in first 11. If De Sciglio takes his chances Bonera will start as a CB.

Taiwo will replace Antonini.

Europa League Draw



FC Porto v Manchester City FC

AFC Ajax v Manchester United FC

FC Lokomotiv Moskva v Athletic Club

FC Salzburg v FC Metalist Kharkiv

Stoke City FC v Valencia CF

FC Rubin Kazan v Olympiacos FC

AZ Alkmaar v RSC Anderlecht

S.S. Lazio v Club Atlético de Madrid

FC Steaua Bucureşti v FC Twente

FC Viktoria Plzeň v FC Schalke 04

Wisła Kraków v R. Standard de Liège

SC Braga v Beşiktaş JK

Udinese v PAOK FC

Trabzonspor AŞ v PSV Eindhoven

Hannover 96 v Club Brugge KV

Legia Warszawa v Sporting Clube de Portugal

Friday, December 16, 2011

UEFA Champions League Draw



Napoli - Chelsea

Arsenal - AC Milan

Marseille - Inter

This season only two English clubs have reached to last 16 and both of them draw with Italian clubs.

Napoli vs Chelsea and Arsenal - AC Milan games are definitely will be great ones to watch.

Inter had advantage of finishing the group at the top and will face with Marseille.

Lazio and Udinese have reached to last 32



Lazio and Udinese , both Italian teams have qualified from the group stages and reached to last 32.

Both teams are having good season in Serie A too , while Udinese are sharing first spot with Juventus and Lazio placed 4th only two points behind the leaders.

Italy have total five teams at European competitions.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Milan lose Yepes



Milan defender Yepes picked up an injury against Bologna and expecting to be out 4 months.

His absence will give troubles to Allegri while Nesta is injured too.

Continue or not



Lazio will be hosting Sporting Lisbon at Wednesday in Stadio Olimpico.

Lazio will try to win against Sporting and will wait Vaslui game's result.

Lazio will miss Marchetti , Dias, Konko, Zauri, Brocchi, Matuzalem, Mauri , Biava and Radu.

Tommaso Rocchi expecting to start alone forward and Klose to start on the bench.

Sculli - Cisse and Hernanes will be supporting Rocchi.

Sporting Lisbon already qualified and will play against Lazio with a rotated squad.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Official Line-ups of Roma - Juventus



Roma: Stekelenburg; Taddei, De Rossi, Heinze, Josè Angel; Pjanic, Viviani, Greco; Lamela, Totti, Osvaldo

Juventus: Buffon; Lichtsteiner, Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini; Vidal, Pirlo, Marchisio; Estigarribia, Matri, Pepe

Luis Enrique named Roma squad



Roma boss Luis Enrique has named Roma's squad for tonight's clash against Juventus.

Roma squad: Borriello, Caprari, Cicinho, De Rossi, Greco, Heinze, Lamela, Lobont, Osvaldo, Perrotta, Pjanic, Pigliacelli, Simplicio, Stekelenburg, Taddei, Totti, Jose Angel, Viviani

Spanish coach planning to use De Rossi as a CB. To using your best midfielder as a defender is gonna be a weird choise but it seems he doesn't have any other choise after missing Juan , Kjaer , Burdisso and Cassetti.

According to some rumours a probable negative result might be his last game with Roma.

A Genius



How many coaches today would do same as Guidolin ? With the same limited squad ?

Guidolin's team leaders of Serie A and they have of their all 7 home games.

This team have lost their best player Alexis Sanchez and best midfielder Inler.

Guidolin's approach to players is just excellent. He's trying to give chance them as much as possible (at Europa league for example.) and keeping them fresh and letting them to gain more experience.

If you'd like to buy players from Udinese , which players would you pick up ?

Armero , Isla , Benatia , Handanovic and maybe Asamoah. (Di Natale is a special case that who dedicated his career to Udinese)

After losing such names from his squad Guidolin didn't have a chance to spend big amounts for transfers as Milan,Inter,Juventus,Roma,Napoli and Lazio.

Guidolin has a young team and he's creating his stars.

Udinese don't even have a 2nd forward who can be partner of Di Natale. Floro Flores is just awful , Fabbrini too young and lacking experience.

Udinese have probably best defensive record of the Europe at the moment. Let's take a look to Udinese defenders. Benatia 24 years old , Neuton 21 years old , Ekstrand 22 years old , Basta 27 years old , Danilo 27 years old and Domizzi most experienced defender of Udinese 31 years old.

Udinese's success is not a coincidence, it's all about hardwork and having an awesome coach.

Can you imagine if Guidolin had a chance to buy such players as Tevez , Vucinic or Lamela?

Tevez or Allegri effect ?



Milan had a trip to Renato Dall’Ara Stadium to get 1st place hopes.

The Rossoneri were without Nocerino , Nesta , Zambrotta and Abbiati.

Milan were playing outstanding since Juventus defeat and everybody expected to Milan get all three points easily against struggling Bologna side.

Bologna have started with Di Vaio alone forward and behind him Ramirez & Diamanti.

Bologna played a defensive game and used counter attacks very dangerous. But probably even Bologna didn't expect such a poor Milan side.

Milan midfielders were not able to control the game , defense was just terrible. Zlatan was marked by 3 Bologna players and he couldn't do much. Pato played one of the worst games of his career. Maybe Tevez rumours affected him ?

Milan couldn't even create positions as they were creating a lot everygame. Seedorf's goal was a brilliant.

Boateng fought hard but he wasn't at his day.

Allegri just watched it and his subtitions were just laughable! Yepes picked up an injury and Allegri changed him with Bonera (who doesn't deserve to play for Milan.) while he had Mexes.

Milan are talking about to win UEFA Champions League , Milan don't have a proper 2nd goalkeeper to replace Abbiati. Amelia made crucial mistakes on the both goals of Bologna.

Milan midfield were too soft without Nocerino. On the last season Van Bommel had great performance but he doesn't show same performance this season.

Same as Bonera , Antonini isn't right player to play for a team for Milan. Taiwo hasn't showed any good performance since he joined Milan but he would do much better than Taiwo while he's eager.

To replacing Seedorf with Emanuelson was just funny. Milan needed to win but they should be happy with one point.

Bologna played very intelligent and deserved to win. Bologna were victim of the refree who didn't give Bologna's clear penalty and gave a penalty kick to Milan which wasn't penalty at all.

Milan maybe would have won it if Allegri gave chance to Mexes instead Yepes , Taiwo instead Antonini and with different subtitions like using Boateng on midfield trio with Aquilani - Seedorf and with taking more risk replacing Van Bommel with Robinho.

Milan have dropped two golden points and will be praying that Roma to get a positive result against Juventus today.

Milan should rid of Antonini , Amelia and Bonera as soon as possible and should focus on midfield and defense more at January transfer market instead of bringing Worldclass strikers.

Hats off to Bologna's performance , they did more than expectations and fought great against the defending champions and their three points stolen by the refree unfortunately.

Marchetti is out for a month



Lazio goalkeeper Federico Marchetti picked up an injury at Lecce game and he's likely to be out a month. Marchetti's absence is a big blow for Lazio while he was in great form.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Fiorentina lose Jovetic



Fiorentina's star Jovetic picked up an injury and with a last minute decision won't play against Inter.

Ljacic will replace Montenegrin star.

Preview : Palermo - Cesena



Mangia's Palermo hoping to keep %100 home-winning record. While they are one of the worst away teams of Serie A , Palermo haven't scored a single goal away from home.

Palermo are totally different team when they are at home, in Sicily Palermo have won their all 6 games. (If they didn't have home success Mangia would be sacked by Zamparini long time ago!)

Palermo will miss very important defender/midfielder Migliaccio , forwards Zahavi and Hernandez. Miccoli is back from injury and ready to play against Cesena. Also defender Munoz back after long term injury , important name for Palermo's defence.

Cesena had a terrible start to Serie A. After The Sea Horses appointed Arrigoni they had two consecutive victories , inluding the Emilia Romagna Derby , Bologna(away) game.

On the last round Cesena had not much to do against Juventus , they have just played an ultra-defensive game and held Juventus till 72th minute and have lost against the leaders with 0-2 score. Cesena showed an awful performance.

Cesena will miss goalkeeper Antonioli , midfielders Martinez and Colucci and key defenders Comotto & Lauro.

A fight reported between defender Benalouane and forward Erjon Bogdani. But both players won't be fined by the club while they are struggling in relegation zone. But a fight between players always has a negative effects on the team.

Palermo (probable) 4-3-1-2 : Benussi; Pisano, Silvestre, Munoz, Balzaretti; Acquah, Bacinovic, Barreto; Ilicic; Pinilla, Miccoli

Cesena (probable): 4-4-2 : Ravaglia; Benalouane , Von Bergen , Rodriguez , Rossi , Ceccarelli, Guana , Parolo , Candreva , Bogdani , Mutu

Palermo have more talent in their squad and they're ''warriors'' when they play in Renzo Barbera.Migliaccio's absence is big blow , but Palermo still have enough quality in their squad compared to Cesena.

Cesena will be defending to make game a hell for Palermo but without two key defenders and first choise goalkeeper that's not gonna be easy to hold Palermo.

Quality differece should be a factor here. Palermo should get their 7th home victory.

Take Palermo -1 AH at @2.16 odds.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Injury cricis at Inter



The Nerazzurri are struggling in Serie A , after the last rounds loss against Udinese , Inter will search for a win against Delio Rossi's Fiorentina.

Inter played their last group game at UEFA Champions League in San Siro and have lost against CSKA Moscow with 1-2 score.

Defenders ; Maicon , Chivu and Lucio are doubtful and captain Zanetti is suspended.

Sneijder is doubtful and unlikely to play against Fiorentina.

Ranocchia and Samuel will start in the center of the defence. But Maicon and Zanetti's absences are giving headache to Ranieri.

Ranieri can count only on Nagatomo for left-back position. Ranieri likely to give chance to young Faraoni on right - back position.

Success of Italian Clubs



Is Italian football death ? All three Italian clubs Napoli , Inter and Milan are qualified from the UEFA Champions League groups to last 16.

Italy are the only country with three clubs left to last 16.

Napoli did a great job with qualifying from the ''group of death'' and finished the group in front of the Manchester City which team were one of the UCL candidates.

Napoli have lost only one game (!!) in the group , it was Bayern game which played in Germany.

Milan qualified easily , the Rossoneri played head to head against defending champions and arguably ''the best team of the World'' Barcelona.

Even Milan would have finished the group on the top if refrees didn't make crucial mistakes at Milan - Barcelona game.

Inter have been struggling since beginning of the season , still they are struggling in Serie A but managed to qualify from the group.

So , is really Italian football death ?

Spain has only two teams left to last 16 , Barcelona and Real Madrid. The both teams are the biggest favourites this season.

England has two teams left , Arsenal and Chelsea. Manchester United failed to qualify with a shock result in Switzerland.

It's possible to see an Italian club at the final against Real or Barcelona or even Bayern Munich.

According to quality wise Milan and Napoli might have more success , if Inter adds a few new faces to their squad they might have chances too.

Italian teams have more to do to change UEFA's coefficients points table.

Italy unfortunately will send three teams next season to UEFA Champions League while Germany has more points and will be able to send four teams.

Italian teams which are playing at Europa League should give more importance and collect some points for the nation. Udinese are great example for it , they gave enough importance and had successful results.

January transfer market will be really decisive for AC Milan's Champions League target this season. If Milan can replace Cassano and bring a few quality names , especially for left-back position and minimum one centre back and a quality midfielder , why not ?

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Official Line-ups of Villareal - Napoli



Villarreal: Diego Lopez; Angel Lopez, Zapata, Musacchio, Oriol, De Guzman, Bruno Soriano, Senna, Perez, Marco Ruben, Nilmar

Napoli: De Sanctis; Aronica, Cannavaro, Campagnaro; Maggio, Gargano, Inler, Zuniga; Hamsik, Lavezzi; Cavani

Napoli are so close to write a history of their own , just one step. Win in Spain and qualify.

So far Napoli showed excellent performance at UCL. All players gave their bests and fought with heart , it's the last one before qualification.

Andiamo Napoli!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Milan close to finish Tevez transfer



Milan were searching a forward to replace Antonio Cassano after his unfortunate illness.

Milan have targeted a few names , Argentinean star Tevez was one of them who doesn't want to stay at Manchester City and has problems with Mancini.

Yesterday night Milan met with Tevez and got an positive answer.

According to speculations Milan will loan Tevez for 6 months and end of the season will sign him for €15M euros.

If Tevez agrees Milan's offer , he should join to the Rossoneri at January.

According to Allegri , Milan will wait till 20th December to make Tevez move.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Undisciplined Roma



While Luis Enrique is trying to build up a new team with a new system (it's not working anyway) talking about the Scudetto for Roma , no no Scudetto is impossible , to finish the league on top #3 is a dream for Roma now.

Luis Enrique had 13 rounds to prove his system but thing kept getting worse , beside Roma is playing bad now players started to show undiciplined behaviours.

The last week Osvaldo has punched Lamela and he fined with 10 days ban and €50.000 Euros.

Against Fiorentina , Roma finished the game with 8 men. Juan , Gago and Krkic have sent off.

Gago , Krkic and Osvaldo all are new players of Roma.

With not being too cruel on Luis Enrique's Roma except they have showed good performances only in ''a few'' games ; it's ain't gonna work.

Fans have no patience anymore.

Luis Enrique has mentioned that he's feeling bad but he said on press conference ; ''Gabriel Heinze made a mistake on the second goal.''

Who brought Heinze to Roma ? Luis Enrique...

Next round Roma will face Serie A leaders Juventus (unbeaten) and will not count on Krkic, Gago , Juan due suspensions and Rosi,Borini,Pizarro, Kjaer due injuries.

Wondering who will play for CB role. I wouldn't be suprised if I see Totti as a CB! (Well Taddei is playing as a LB!!!)

Can anyone compare this Roma with Luciano Spalletti's Roma? Probably best solution is a resignation for Luis Enrique and for Roma directors to wait January transfer window.

Official : Di Francesco sacked



Lecce have sacked Eusebio Di Francesco after 4-2 Napoli defeat.Lecce have confirmed that they have signed with new coach Serse Cosmi.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

The Perfect Udinese



Inter welcomed Guidolin's Udinese and wanted to continue their winning streak in San Siro after consecutive two victories in Serie A.

Inter played without Sneijder , Maicon and Lucio.

Udinese were a bit tired , Guidolin nearly used full team at Europa League game against Lille in France.

The Zebrette showed great defensive performance at the first half. Guidolin played very smart. At the first half we have watched an one-sided game , Udinese were only searching for counter attacks with long balls to Di Natale.

At the 2nd half Inter's old-legs showed sign of tiredness and started to take more risks. Well, taking the risks didn't pay off.

Udinese showed excellent performance , found a goal with Isla and did take the lead.

Inter tried to fight back and gave more gaps to Udinese. With another counter attack organization Udinese earned a penalty kick and Zanetti sent off.

Di Natale were so close to finish the game but Julio Cesar saved the penalty kick.

Close to the end Inter have recieved a penalty after Ferronetti tackle to Milito.

Pazzini couldn't tie the score and missed penalty kick!

Udinese have collected another three points and reached to 27 points and sharing 1st place with Milan.

Guidolin's team played really smart and used their deadly counter-attacks very well.

So far Udinese have conceeded only 6 goals in Serie A, one of the best defensive records of the Europe at the moment.

Hats-off for Guidolin's perfect job.


Also Italianpreview had ;

pre-game bets ;

Inter Milan - Udinese Dec 3, 11 0 - 0
1H Under 0.75 1.9 Win

Udinese +0.5 1.88 AH Win

and livebet ;

Inter Milan - Udinese Calcio - Final Result 03/12/2011 20:31 2 5.25 0 - 1 Win

It was a profitable game and enjoyable one with two red cards and two missed penalty kicks!

Friday, December 2, 2011

Milan on the top!



Milan have continued to their climb on the table and got 1st place with Ibrahimovic and Nocerino's goals winning against Genoa with 2-0 score.

Milan have visited Genoa without Nesta , Van Bommel and Abbiati. Pato was expecting to start in first 11 but Brazilian star got flu and started on the bench.

Genoa were without important defender Bovo and forward Palacio. It was a very important game for Genoa coach Malesani to secure his job.

First half both teams didn't impressive. Milan were not performing same as they performed against Chievo. Game had to stop about 15 minutes due tear gas which threw from outside of the stadium.

At the first half Milan had a few chances but failed to score. Especially with Nocerino the Rossoneri found two good chances.

At the 2nd half Kaladze's big mistake changed the picture. Kaladze tried to stop Ibrahimovic in penalty area and sent off.

Milan scored their first goal from a penalty kick with Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Nocerino made the score 0-2 and scored his 5th goal this season.

Milan have contiuned their good run and got the 1st place ahead one point of Juventus.

EURO 2012 : Italy draw Spain



Italy have joined from 2nd pot and paired with Spain , Croatia and Republic of Ireland in Group C.

All matches will be played in Poland. The opening game will be Spain vs Italy.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Lazio travels to Romania to win



Lazio have arrived to Romania to play against Vaslui. Edy Reja's team might risk qualification chances even with a draw. Reja's lads will be searching for 3 points.

First game between Lazio and Vaslui have finished with 2-2 in Italy.

Both teams sharing 2nd place with 5 points. This game will be decisive one about to qualification.

Reja will make some rotations on the midfield zone , but he's expecting to field a strong team.

Defender Dias is out at least one more month and he will miss Vaslui game.

Lazio (probable ) 4-3-1-2 : Marchetti , Konko, Diakité, Biava e Radu , Gonzalez, Cana , Lulic , Hernanes , Cisse , Klose.