lol this is a question that i hav in my head for quite some times... here we go...

i guess for many of u guys here, the things that come into ur mind when speaking of Serie A or Italian football is that they are "boring", "lack of fast pace attacking", "too defensive-minded", bla bla bla...

i find it to be very amusing that whenever some Serie A matches turn out to b a goal fest or thriller, people wil come n say "wah, Serie A also got such attacking football ah?". n this happened tons of times to me, especially when Roma trashed their opponent 7-0 in a league game 2 weeks ago.

is it true that Serie A is really that 'boring' n 'lack of attacking' ? well of coz as u may know, i'm a die-hard fan of AS Roma n Serie A. i do follow Serie A closely - not juz read some report from website or papers. I watched Serie A games regularly for almost every week. n of coz, i do watched a lot EPL too. La Liga not that much, as i usually pick those big names clashes. n being to b as unbias n neutral as possible, I honestly don't think that EPL n Serie A is that far away in term of excitement.

i know a lot of people tend to brand Serie A as "defensive football". well is that true ? taken out some times, i had collected some statistic of the number of goal scored for both Serie A n EPL, for the past 5 seasons.

Serie A :
2001/02 - 806*
2002/03 - 789*
2003/04 - 816*
2004/05 - 960
2005/06 - 991

*Serie A only hav 18 teams til 03/04. it changed into 20 since 04/05.


EPL
2001/02 - 1000
2002/03 - 1000
2003/04 - 965
2004/05 - 975
2005/06 - 944


so lets see here. the grand total of Serie A's stats is 4362 goals, while EPL's is 4931. now here looks like EPL is far better, right ? but dont forget that Serie A only hav 18 teams for 01/02 to 03/04. therefore the number of matches play is juz 306 per season, compare to EPL's 380.

so in the end, the average goal scored for Serie A for that 5 season is approx. 2.58 goals per match, while EPL's is approx. 2.60 goals per match. well, is the gap really justified the claim of Serie A being "too defensive-minded" ? of coz the stats wouldn't prove anything concrete, but its a point to consider anyway.

Serie A hav some of the world's best attacking talents such as Kaka, Totti, Figo, Toni, etc. n there are also those who are relatively unknow to people who dont follow Serie A, such as like Lucarelli, Di Natale, Di Michele n Bonazzoli. These guys are on par with Crouch, Darren Bent, Saha, etc, if not better. honestly i can't agree wif such thing as "Serie A doesn't hav great attacking plays".

one reason that i believe for Serie A being branded as 'boring' is bcoz of the limited covarges available here. n seriously, those that on Astro are terrible. Its not the game itself, but the commentators. damn those guys know nuts abt Serie A, n the way they talk can really make me fall asleep. n for unknown reason, they tend to 'cover up' the live sounds of the games, so u'll hardly hear the cheerings n shoutings out there. well if u happen to watch it thru some foregin channels, it will b a huge different experience.

lol sorry for the terriblely long post. well i hope u guys can come n share ur thoughts n opinions, like what u really think of Serie A football.

EDITED : to avoid any possible bash or flame or whatever, plz note that I'm NOT trying to argue that Serie A is better than EPL or La Liga or whatever. The point here is that : is Serie A really 'boring, defensive-minded, lack of attacking play" as it hav be branded by many ?

This post has been edited by Chrisky: Nov 30 2006, 06:06 PM

lol something weird happened that i got a dup thread.

now i didnt say the goal stats proved anything, did i ?

to me,
1.epl
2.la liga
3.serie a

even ruud gullit that had been playing for Milan also prefer watching EPL rather than Serie A..

Yeah u dont say it, but the statistics that u provided is abt the goal.. so, better u find ur concrete opinion to say that Serie A is more entertaining than EPL..

im a Serie A follower and i find only one team that is boring and too defensive, other team especially Inter and Roma are playing full throttle attacking football but not the extent as La Liga

lol dont misquote me plz. I didnt say "Serie A is more entertaining than EPL" as u claimed. what i wanna discuss here is juz the point of Serie A being branded as "boring n defensive play". comparison with EPL is juz a reference.

its boring n defensive minded yes. look at the stadium, the atmosphere aint as electric as in EPL. u can notice alot of goalscorers celebrate by putting their hand in the ears indicating they want more cheers. even the commentator is lousy. defensive minded is always a tradition in italy. this is an advantage for other clubs n other leagues. so clubs should buy italian defenders italy won the WC thx to their super defensive play n lippis tactical skills

on the stadium part, yes u got a point. generally stadiums in Italy sux big ass compare to those in EPL.

but i believe the atmosphere is not as bad as u thought. If u watch Serie A thru some Italian channels, u can clearly hear n feel the intense atmosphere as those of EPL.

as for being defensive-minded, yup Italians are famous with their defence, but that doesn't equals that they don't hav fast-paced n free flow attack, right ?

well, EPL have millions of viewers around the world... far more popular compare to Seria A and La Liga maybe because their style of advertisements across the globe... well, being the most watched, EPL have to make sure all the stadiums and environment well-organized... if not, they will be a shame in the eyes of the world... their standards are high, i guess...

This post has been edited by emy_xvidia: Nov 30 2006, 07:37 PM

actually, i hv done some kind of 'experiment' abt this things..
i watch the game if its involve smaller teams such as

messina,fiorentina - Serie A
blackburn,spurs - EPL
sevilla,villarreal - la liga

well, for EPL teams i can watch it until up to full time, la liga teams still watch until full time but there is a time i switch to other channels, serie a teams only last longer until halftime..

among the top clubs in italy,i think AC milan is the most defensive minded team of all.

they play defensive but once they attack, they are unstoppable... especially having Kaka in the midfield...

marketing wise, of coz EPL wil b far more easier. EPL = English, Serie A = Italian, La Liga = Spanish.

now how many for those in Asia know Italian or Spanish, compare to those who know English ?

which channel u watched the match ? well if its Astro, u can forget abt watching it at the 1st place. I would recommend u to try out some foreign channels if u hav the chance.

Serie A matches on Astro, even those like Roma vs Lazio or AC vs Inter, sux big time. What kind of bloody stupid commentating is that.

i dont really think so... not that they not attacking, juz that they do not seem to hav the luck for goals this year.

quality of goal is more important.... quantity doesnt really matters sometime

n Serie A does hav tons of top quality goals.

i think juve gets my vote

thats the thing...but they always got team that win at least 4-0 easily..

Serie A got firework in stadium. EPL too discipline..lost my entertaiment.
I can fall asleep watching EPL...its media puppet battlefield.
I am SERIE A FANBOY. Zomg. I believe those majority in middle east asia also
favour serie A.

i can learn to like it..only if they change the commentator n the way the fans celebrate the goals/chant

and throw firecracker or stuff to the keeper.. dida get hit once