and that was a team that never came close to winning the title

zizzle wrote:and that was a team that never came close to winning the title

That's not entirely true.

2 years before that picture with largely the same squad minus Veron and Asprilla they finished second finishing like 1 or 2 points behind Juve I think.

Zola left them midseason in January that season, I think had he stayed they might have won.

Parma '96-'97 got the 2nd place behind Juve with almost as gap of -4 if I remind well .. and they had the big match in Torino in last matchdays , it ended 1-1 with Parma who was winning
Indeed Hodgson bottled it the 2nd place that year , he played with reserve team against Roma ( a badly hit Roma , they and Milan played an awful league .. It was the year of Carlos Bianchi in Roma who wanted to sell Totti in Sampdoria ) because we had to play the Uefa Cup semi-final against Monaco .. and we tied 1-1 . Then we got 3rd place and lost the Uefa Cup final at home against Schalke in penalty kicks Laughing
Anyway that Parma was much less stronger than that Parma posted on pic .
No still Veron , no Cannavaro and Buffon in their prime , Crespo began to score just in 2nd half season ..
The Parma on twitter pic is the Parma 1998-1999 , and it was a complete team with prime players and it is the year  when they destroyed Olimpique Marseille in Uefa Cup final for 3-0.
That Parma, and not just for this result, for me was the greatest Parma under Tanzi era.
They won also the Coppa Italia.
While in league they got just a 4th place with -15 on Milan , 15 W 10 T ... not a score worthy of that team.
The reason is understandable , they had a crap coach.
Alberto Malesani was really overrated at that time,  because he played a good football, but indeed he was carried by his teams , not conversely. That Parma won DESPITE Malesani.
Just thinking to Fiorentina, the club led before of Parma. Got an incosistent league in 98 , then they sign Trapattoni . Trapattoni   changes the offensive Malesani's gamestyle for his usual "catenaccio" but effective style and Fiorentina was going to win the league if Batistuta not got injured. I am talking exactly about the Serie A 98 99.
It was really a weird league . Fiorentina and Lazio bottled in succession ( expecially Lazio .. at least Fiorentina can say because of Batistuta's injury .. it was bascally jinx. Lazio bottled last matchday when they had +8 on Mialn and overcame in penultimate matchday) and at the end Milan won it when it wasn't on top 4 on paper .
It was difficult to imagine it in first half... for example in fist half ...


Anyway omitting the factor coach , it's always difficult for a provinciale reality to reach the aristocracy in Serie A for various reasons ( pressure etc ) ..
it's reason why I am always skeptical when  I read things as Napoli to win the Scudetto  .
And it's one reason why a good Milan can win more than a GOAT Parma.

Robes ffs

The decline of serie A has much to do with the decline of the talent pool in Italy. The great Italian teams in the 1990s did spend a lot of money, but they all had a solid core of great Italian players that they paid almost nothing for. This isnt the case anymore and italian teams simply cant afford the best talent out there.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CZbWtEIWwAEu1nm.jpg


Nothing but an Empoli win here. Miha might get sacked tonight or tomorrow

Calma he ain't getting sacked if we lose tonight

But yeah, easy Empoli win here

I called it a few weeks ago, he's gonna be sacked after Inter routs us in the derby

baccccccaaaa

Considering we 're talking about this Parma, I have  to share this . Fantastic Thuram's words about Ronaldo.
I'll try to translate this.

Spoiler:

When I faced Ronaldo for the first time I played with Parma.
The match began , and I met him in front after a while.
He aimed you , and he stroked the ball in an unusual way that you were enchanted. But he could do this with a speed ever seen before.  That day, he jumped me with a double step . He was going toward the GK , and I shout to Fabio (Cannavaro)  " Put down him put down him "  . Fabio fouled him, and the referee gave him yellow card. In the following action , 1 vs 1 again , he streched the ball at full speed , and I could just knocked down him . Right after Fabio looked at me and he said "  Lilly we conclude the match in 9 so , how do we stop this ?? "
Ronaldo listened everything , he turned to us , and he said in a very poor Italian language " Excuse me , I am exaggerating . " . Me and Cannavaro looked each other saying nothing. He made us feel small, very small,  almost powerless ...  The phenomenon was also this . " .

About match today

Pucciarelli is the best CF in the world when he doesn't touch the ball..
The defenders hate him because he is really annoying to face. For the rest, he can't score.

Am I the only one to think Saponara > Vazquez ?

Vazquez is overrated anyways

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Vazquez is overrated anyways

Who's overrating him ?

I knew we would regret selling Saponara. Guy never got a proper chance in the team. Three different coaches did not help either.

Yeah particularly stupid when Berlu insists on using a No.10

He would be a big flop and you all would be crucifying him for being another 'average Italian' if he was still at Milan.

Its good that he joined Empoli.Great career move.

El Pipita ffs

Huge mistake to say "Sayonara Saponara"

..

*exits thread*

GOAT Montella at it again.Wow.

New low when you're doing a worse job than Zenga.

Karma 1-1

They would be mid-table if not for Handanovic.The guy has won like some 10-15 pts on his own.

KEVIN LASAGNA LAST MINUTE EQUALIZER!

Thread subtitle coming full circle now

Robsepierre wrote:I haven't felt so good since Kevin Lasagna scored for Carpi

I bet you're still feeling that good (:

oh well..

Perisic is pure trash, haven't seen anything convincing everytime he played, Urbi was right all along

Lasagna scored a delicious goal