The best time of the year
By: Marco |
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It’s transfer talk time. My favorite time of the year especially on Football Manager. But unlike FM I can’t make a Atalanta “Galacticos” team, watch the downfall of Inter and Torino (well the latter happened) or actually manage a team. But we can speculate. With Kaka’ leaving and going to Madrid for 65M and Gaynaldo hopefully going to Madrid (can’t wait for it actually) and the possibility of Madrid destroying itself from the inside out the past few weeks have been interesting and the future is bright.
As for Atalanta? Cigarini is gone or going to Napoli and Acquafresca might be coming to Bergamo after he signs for Genoa. That is all I know so far and no Saudi’s have bought us yet…maybe we need a Mr. Omar Sadiki to help us out in the financial area while supplying us with some nice buildings. Though we have a limited budget I can estimate that we have at least 4-6M euros to spend depending on our expectations next season so that doesn’t leave much room. I do have some targets though. (At least one of these players would be great unless we can get some bargains.)
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1. Daniele Cacia
I remember seeing this kid become a great Serie A forward in FM08. I haven’t watched Lecce that much but I can guess that this guy has some potential. He isn’t a Pato or Jovetic but he could turn out to be a decent player. Plus he wouldn’t cost us that much even though he has a co-ownership deal with Lecce and Piacenza.
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2. Roberto Acquafresca
I love this guy. Sure the rumors sound pretty outlandish to me this guy is going to be class. I can see him being a more physical Inzaghi. He can poach goals and can play with his back to the goal. He has a great future and it would be great if we could snatch him up. Better us than Inter.
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3. Paulo Ferrari
Ferrari shows some promise and is a good fullback in Argentina, or has the potential to be, and could probably be bought at a good price. While I am more concerned with replacing Doni and improving our midfield he could add some speed to the defense and support the buildup.
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4. Augusto Fernandez
Maybe its a personal dream but this guy is a legend. If you have read my Palermo FM blog you will see me ranting and boasting that he was a legend in 08. It was true…unfortunately D’Alessandro is a journeyman and will probably never step foot in Bergamo and Augusto would cost a pretty penny but it would be worth it. I could see him doing well in Italy with his pace even though he is lacking in size.
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5. Juan Manuel Torres
We could buy him for peanuts. He is a legend and I dubbed him as “El Dogo” since he is basically the Argentine Gattuso. Hard working, mean as shit and dirty to match it he could bolster our midfield but would miss chunks of the season due to his temperament. Either way it would be worth it. I have seen him hit some great passes and could play a support / defensive role very well.
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These are just some targets that I would love to see come into Atalanta. At least one of the latter players would be great but I haven’t listed the jewels of the Serie B or some lesser known players. With Cigarini leaving we should get a few million that could help with our transfer kitty.
Category: Atalanta Team News
Season review
By: Marco | 7 Comments
I am back after a two or three month hiatus (or seems like it). Anyways it’s the end of the Serie A. My TIVO and numerous DVR’s are full of games that I have recorded so I have catching up to do. I did watch Paolo’s last game and I cried at the end like any Milanista but with Enchilada leaving and the possiblity of no Seedorf and Favalli makes it all so much better. Plus Leonardo is Brazilian. Ka-Pa-Ro anyone?
As for Atalanta the season had its ups and downs. We stomped Inter and beat some of the big boys while flopping against donkey’s and other smaller teams so its another mid-table season. Del Neri is out and I have no idea about any of the candidates. Let’s just hope its not Zenga. Cigarini is going to Napoli which is the stupidest move that I have seen but then again let’s hope that we made some serious euros off the chigger man. Maybe Inter or Man City want to buy Bobo Vieri from us?
I only watched Atalanta once or twice over the course of the season but that isn’t important. I was impressed with some of our results especially considering the lackluster squad that we possess. Now for my favorite time of the year. The transfer market. I will come up with a huge list on potential transfer targets and my hopes and dreams that will be eventually crushed.
Category: Atalanta Team NewsFloccari gets the double and SuperPippo becomes a spartan
By: Marco | 3 Comments
Well we finally break the three game losing steak with a win against Bullshit FC. God I hate that team…nothing like a win against well…we shouldn’t have lost against Chievo but the Milan loss was great. HOW CAN YOU SAY THIS MARCO? Well first SuperPippo is my idol. Sure Maldini is all that is man but Pippo is Pippo. He can’t hold off a challenge, run that fast or kick that hard but the man is the best positional striker of all time. He is the definition of the poacher. Nistelrooy can take notes.
Enough with my man crush on Pippo. With eleven games left in the Serie A season clutch time is approaching. My favorite time of year for relegation battles and Milan finishing in 3rd even though they should be first. Maybe next year which is what we say every year. Floccari, as everyone knows, has put in 12 goals this season and is the highlight so far. He deserves the Italy call up since the more capable strikers the Azzurri have the better.
He scored the first on 46 minutes and the last on 73 minutes giving us another solid win. The season has been iffy so far. We should have won a lot of games against smaller sides while we shocked Inter and Roma. Had a couple good wins against the likes of Lazio and Napoli while losing to Chievo and the minnows. Ah…the Serie A how I love you.
What I do love is the anti-Serie A propaganda that is flying about. Sure I could rant about how most English football fans are either American or Asian but I won’t. The EPL is a good league. Arsene Wenger, Fergie and co are brilliant managers. I have plenty of English friends and London is great. But come on guys. It’s football not war. When the 6 x 5 rules comes around, it will, the EPL will be crippled especially Arsenal. Considering the quality of the English players isn’t up to Spain or even Italy on their bad days. Look at the depth of the national team. Italy can call up plenty of good players and even though Sky in all of their brilliance and class says the Serie A is a retirement home what about Dessena, Cigarini, Ballotelli, Fiorillo, Pazzini, ect? I can keep listing them on and on and on but I don’t feel like going through the trouble. You could say that the reason why there is so much propaganda is that most of them are so insecure about their own league that they HAVE to attack others.
I could also rant about the EPL fanboys over in the states and the rest of the world but I won’t. Now don’t come running because I offended you. I don’t care you are wasting time by flaming me. If you want to be a fanboy you should be used to being called it. There is nothing wrong with supporting an English team if you are American, Asian, Angolan, I don’t care. I wish my beloved Hampton & Richmond and Swindon Town weren’t shit but I still love them. But don’t show your ass about it all the time. Congratulations. You are another Manchester United fan outside of the U.K. Nobody cares. When United start losing and another team takes their place which will you support? And they will. That is football. Even if its 40 years from now the teams of today will fall and new powerhouses will arise.
Maybe in 40 years Newcastle might be good team…actually that won’t ever happen (<3 Daryl) MAYBE they should sign Daryl as at least the ass man. He could probably do a class job. Maybe Swindon will become the new Arsenal, a team of youngsters who have so much class but can’t get the trophy. Hampton & Richmond will come up from the depths of the lower leagues and dominate the game. Alessandria and Pro Vercelli will come back to the Serie A after falling from grace…well at least Alessandria. Vercelli are proper sh** right now.
As for Atalanta the closing games are a mixed bag. Our toughest opposition will be the old bitch Juventus but I can expect a loss against them. Maybe we will upset them like Inter and Roma? You never know. We have beaten Napoli and Lazio before. Fiorentina I honestly don’t know. They have been on and off this season. If we win against all of the minnows we should be fine. Another midtable finish…mediocrity for another year even though we were much better this year than last.
Category: Atalanta Team NewsBah
By: Marco | 1 Comment
I have been too tired and swamped to update for the past few days. So we lose to failure extraordinaire Cassano (no offense Sampdoria the guy has no class) and Sampdoria. Well actually Pazzini scored the game winning goal signaling his transfer to his new club from the ugly men in purple. Great time to do it also. Luca and Cristiano had a decent game while everyone else sat around and watched. In other news Doni is knocked out of the “vital” match against Chievo this weekend. Great…and the pretty men in pink want to have Luca in their midfield. Give us Cavani, Lanzafame, Amelia and Kjaer and we will think about it.
No Steven we will only accept those players plus an additional five million. Yes Steven we wouldn’t mine having Guana on our team (for free) as the water-girl. That is how we roll in the transfer market. Also in other news my headphones decided to give up on life and they essential snapped in half while taking them off. I noticed that they were uneven when I bought them but I didn’t pay attention to it. Skullcandy…why have you done this to me? Time to go back to the Siberia’s…
Category: Atalanta Team NewsCiiiigggggaaaa
By: Marco | 5 Comments
Sorry for the delay. Last weekend we faced off against Cagliari in an exciting match (sarcasm). Cigarini gave Atalanta the winning goal getting us another three points. Another win even if we scraped by. Our potential firepower didn’t get a chance to fire but I am not complaining about the win either. At least we staying under the radar for a while which means not as much pressure going into matches. If we beat the small teams we can stay in the top half of the table but everyone knows how the minnows are in Italy.
Pinto Pinto says that we should be able to beat Roma in the upcoming fixture and considering their form we should be able to get some points or at least a draw. I don’t see us losing if we can net a few goals even though Roma’s “resurgence” from the depths of Italian football has been steady I guess. We can always put their breaks on and stop them and it would be funny to not see Roma in the top four which is better for Milan and the rest. Personally my prediction for the top four will be this: 1. Milan 2. Inter 3. Juventus 4. Roma / Fiorentina if either team doesn’t self-destruct. Yes I am pipping Milan for the title and all of the Interista’s can shove it. I guess paying the referee’s in Europe doesn’t work like it does back home Inter?
Category: Atalanta Team NewsFour steps forward two back, another two steps back and then another step forward. Lets do the midtable dance
By: Marco | Add Comments
After our historic 3-1 victory over Inter we came into the Siena and Bologna fixtures with heads high and morale boosted. But Siena and Bologna in their usual manner did the upset again and topped us 1-0 each. Del Neri insisted that we deserved more in the fixture and prior to kickoff Doni and Padoin warned the team to keep their collective heads down and take the game seriously. We did the opposite and lost. At least a draw guys especially against either of the teams. But the Serie A is the Serie A and is always unpredictable. We managed to stop the slow decay with a 1-0 victory against Catania.
We started out strong and fast with Pinto Pinto (yes I coined that name) giving an good effort and Guarente eventually scoring in the 24th minute. Padoin and the rest of the on form guys had a decent second half and we deserved the three points against the elephant men. The Old Hag wants to buy Floccari and if he has to go we might as well get something out of the deal even though I know we won’t make any big moves in the off-season. But we can always hope for the likes of Titus Bramble in the back-line.
Del Neri is now saying that big teams are struggling against the little minnows lately which in Inter and Juve’s case (congrats Cagliari) it must be true. Personally I think Milan should have won against Genoa but it happens. Fiorentina have self-destructed after barely making it in the top four last season while both Lazio and Catania, who were in the top 5 earlier in the season, have done the same. It is a long season though so you never know. I am hoping that the power outages stop for good because I don’t enjoy freezing. Ciao Ciao 
Category: Atalanta Team NewsSiena - Hotlanta
By: Marco | 3 Comments
After our historic 3-1 trouncing (yes that’s right) of Inter we head to Siena hoping to build up the momentum again which shouldn’t be impossible. What is funny though is that both teams have completely different mindsets. We want to get higher up in the table and closer to Europe while Siena want to hold on to a spot in the Serie A. What we all know about relegation fodder is that they will fight to the death and scrap for a single point. Two things might happen. One we beat them or two we underestimate them and we lose. Hopefully we don’t do what Milan did last season against the minnows and lose. But I do have confidence in my boys going into the next match.
Siena had a great result against Tuscan rivals Fiorentina which goes to show they cannot be underestimated. Also add in wins against some of the big four from last season and early this season they can pose a big threat if the night goes there way. They have home advantage and expect them to fight for every ball like a team of Gattuso’s without the beard and general ability.
Atalanta have opened the new year in a great way by topping Inter in an suprising result but losing to Palermo 3-2. The Palermo result was unlucky though considering our collective defense and keeper brain fart which resulted in Cavani getting the game winner. We have shown that we can hang with the big boys on any given night and can fight in our own right so even though we are away Siena should lose. Floccari and Doni are in great form right now while Cigarini is back and Curci can get back between the pipes after serving a two game suspension.
My prediction is a 1-0 win for Atalanta. A close game but if we play right we should get most of the possession. Siena will drop back and hit us off the counter. The confidence boost from the Inter came can either hurt us or help us so hopefully it will help us get three points.
Now for some musings. If any of you read you should pick up The Legend of Drizzt (Collectors Edition) Book One. Not only does it have an nice cover it also contains three books about the man, the myth and the legend, Drizzt Do’Urden. I never really liked fantasy except for Tolkien’s stuff and some Forgotten Realms but in my journey for creating a character to write about this book is helping me out. Salvatore is a great author and his style can be exciting (I know…books? exciting? WHAT THE **** are you talking about? I don’t read books.) and he manages to make the world that Drizzt is in believable and has plenty of colorful characters. He also describes fight scenes that make it feel like you are in the middle of the action which goes to show his talent as a writer. Barnes and Noble with their awesome member cards allowed me to save some serious money on this baby so it was worth it.
Back to the Serie A. Kaka is staying at Milan…yay. Jose Moanhrino (hehe) called his Inter side what they really are, crap, Fiorentina is self destructing (good news for us) and they are trying to use a clever trick to sign Cigarini by offering Donadel. If we accept it then the big heads have to be complete idiots. Give us Kuzmanovic and Donadel…then we can talk. We aren’t being linked to anyone so this mercato should be boring for us but I would like to see some more players coming in after the season. City can come over and buy Sergio for 102M if they want…Doni and Padoin are stating the obvious that we need to worry about complacency and to finish it all off the English Football Associations oops I mean UEFA didn’t add any Italians to the team of the year but did have river dancing extraordinaire and crossover master Ronaldo in the lineup. Big shock there…the tides of anti-calcioism keep coming don’t they? Kaka has had injuries and chronic knee pain and he is still better than Ronaldo but the media always view it differently. And so does every fanboy who are all apparently expert pundits. The world hates Italy and thinks England is the only country that has a league. Sure I have plenty of friends who are English (no Daryl you aren’t one…kidding) and I enjoy fish and chips and I also think that Wenger is a genius but there are other leagues.
Hippies, Chavs and Fanboys are my eternal enemies so I apologize if I offend you. But come on just because Ronaldo does pretty little tricks against weak defenses and chokes during big games doesn’t mean he is gods gift to this world and the only human being that deserves to be acknowledged that plays. Need I remind you what happened when he tried to trick Gattuso? Rino destroyed him twice and Nesta left him in the ditch. Good times. Yes athletically he is a great player and is definitely gifted but his personality sucks and he dives like Arnold during the Predator movie (when he jumped off the waterfall.). His fans aren’t any better also. But that is just me. My team of the year?
Iker Casillas (Spa, Real Madrid); Sergio Ramos (Spa, Real Madrid), (Eng, Chelsea), Carles Puyol (Spa, Barcellona), Philipp Lahm (Ger, Bayern Munich); Kaka (Ita, A.C Milan), Warren Sapp, Cesc Fabregas (Spa, Arsenal), Franck Ribery (Fra, Bayern Munich); Lionel Messi (Arg, Barcellona), Luca Toni (Ita, Bayern Munich).
But I am biased and if you didn’t catch my clever ruse then you must have not read it. Warren Sapp may be fat but he has the speed of Pato and the strength of a truck. He can sack, intercept a pass, juke the best linemen in the NFL out of his jock strap, run like Reggie Bush and do a triple front-flip into the touchdown zone before performing an elaborate victory dance. Enough with the sarcasm I don’t watch the NFL but I do know my Ravens failed. But at least San Jose is going to win the Stanley Cup this year and SK.swe will dominate this year.
Category: Atalanta Team NewsPalermo, Inter and mercato fun
By: Marco | 6 Comments
Last week Palermo edged us during a 3-2 victory with goals coming from Bresciano and uni-brow extraordinaire during the first half while after half-time Floccari and Pinto equalized until Cavani gave the pretty men the three points. A hard loss especially considering we were going against Inter during the next fixture.
Now for the fun.
We all expected the United Nations to beat Atalanta 2-0, 3-0 or at least a 2-1 margin but were we wrong or what. I wasn’t even expecting a draw considering, well even though I despise Inter with everything that have, the gulf in class between the two sides. Doni wanted to take advantage of Inter’s problems and well he did. 3-1. Shocking isn’t it? Talismanic old man Doni again defied the years by bagging two goals, setting up another and nearly scoring three others. Floccari, one of the on form strikers, opened up the scoring though with a great turn and finish. He is being linked with a call up during Italy’s next friendly in the coming weeks and rightly so.
For the most part the team was solid except for Padoin who had a lackluster game but he didn’t really make any mistakes either. Our back-line of Garics, Talamonti, Manfredini and Bellini were solid all night long even causing troubles for Inters defense with some nice runs. Maicon was shut down by Bellini for the most part and kept him in check. Guarente showed his class and potential with a great overall performance in the midfield with a couple of good tackles, passes and plays to go along with a great performance. Valdes played down both wings effectively and missed a great chance early on but was very effective on the flanks.
Man of the match though was Doni who was pure class throughout. As previously stated he could have scored six goals but two plus an assist is fine with me. The old man still has class even after these years (not everyone can play like Maldini when they get old considering Paolo isn’t human). Floccari and Doni are playing very well together this season and if Sergio keeps getting goals maybe City will waste some of their money on him. *Dreams of 100M euros for Floccari*.
Transfer News
Everyone is talking about Ricky Kaka going to either City or Madrid for a lot of money. If he goes to City his career will be ruined considering that no matter how much money City has they will always suck and Madrid is a better choice but we all know what happened to Sheva. My take on it? I love Kaka but I also love money so as long as we make some great transfers with that cash Milan won’t be completely lost. *Dreams of Torres, Fabregas, Giovinco, Chiellini and a few other youngsters* But you have to remember that were talking about Kaka who is still in my opinion the best player in the world even with injuries. (Ronaldo isn’t a real player. Riverdancing on the field isn’t a show of class especially against the likes of Titus Bramble) And at times he was the only one carrying Milan through its troubles. Sure Pato is destroying everything right now but Milan still need Kaka.
But look at the way Kaka plays. He loves to run up the middle which results in a lot of bumps and bruises not to mention injuries. He already has chronic knee problems and teams have found out how to stop him for the most part. Professional fouls are very prevalent against him in today’s Serie A. When he hits thirty if the injuries don’t get him his age will. Physically he will start to deteriorate like everyone at that age does except for Maldini and if you add in the current injuries and the possible injuries in the future he won’t be playing to 40. But I might be wrong and this is just my opinion.
Either way there is some big money involved with a big name player and going to City would ruin his career. Hopefully he makes the right choice which he should. If not then the ultras, (some of them I know), will cause some serious hell in Milan. Now for Atalanta and there not so busy transfer market. We have brought in Federico Peluso from AlbinoLeffe. I don’t know anything about him but most likely he will be filling in for our back-line in case of injury. We have already said that we don’t have a lot of choices (which is b.s) and we won’t make that many transfers if any during this window. I would have loved to see Pazzini and Floccari together but I guess that won’t happen. Plenty of talent in Eastern Europe but we won’t look there. We have a good amount of depth so its not like we have to worry about injuries. Great news though Cigarini is back from injury and came off the bench against Palermo which is always great after that kind of injury.
Category: Atalanta Team NewsThe season so far
By: Marco | 3 Comments
Atalanta have had a good season so far grabbing wins against some of the top 7 teams while cleaning up the bottom feeders. We opened up against Siena winning 1-0 but then hit mixed results against Catania, Chievo, Torino and Reggina. Losses were expected against Roma, Milan and Juventus even if Roma are in very poor form at the moment. If we could have grabbed some points from the likes of Catania and Torino and definitely Reggina and Chievo we would be much higher up. But it is a long season ahead and considering our key midfield component, Cigarini, has been injured for sometime we have managed to scrape through. Hopefully he should return in a month or two and our injury list isn’t that bad.
January will be a so-so month for La Dea as we open up against the pretty men in pink and then on to face that other team from Milan. We finish off Jan. against Siena and Bologna who through previous encounters we should beat. Palermo have the potential to do great things but haven’t done so this year. They will still be a test though and we should hope to get as many points as possible. Inter are Inter (you don’t want to hear my true opinion on them) so I don’t expect us to pull off any miracles.
The rest of the schedule has its far share of tough match ups against Juventus, Roma (if they can actually start playing) and Milan. Also add in Fiorentina, Lazio and Genoa into the mix and it will st ill be a competitive finish. Due to our lack of firepower, depth and money we will most likely finish off the year in the top / mid table position. But we are good enough to evade the lower half hopefully.
On to the good part. Players of the season so far.
Sergio Floccari - ST - Everyone’s new favorite player who has seemingly appeared from the darkness and scored his way into the light. 8 goals and 2 assists in 17 appearances isn’t as good as Pato or some of the other forwards but as of late he has been in great form and if he keeps it up we can grind out some good results.
Cristiano Doni - AM - Doni hasn’t scored as much as some of the other players but he has done his fair share of the hard work and has had a good season. Nothing special but a good season none the less. Considering not everyone is blessed with the longevity of Paolo Maldini, aka the greatest defender of all time, at 35 Doni is still going strong and he has looked good so far shape wise.
Tiberio Guarente - CM - He has filled the void for Luca Cigarini’s position in the midfield by adding in a physical presence. Not as creative as Cigarini or good for that matter he makes up for it with Ambrosini like play. 27 fouls in 16 games and a total of 5 yellow cards for him. When Cigarini comes back hopefully we can fit both of them in the midfield together.
The Mercato side of La Dea has been quiet. I would love it if we went after Juan Manuel Torres but that won’t happen. Maybe we could poach off Adriano from Inter and turn him into a good player, like I did in FM with my pure managerial skills, or maybe get Pazzini. But as Italy goes it probably won’t happen and I am sure that Del Neri thinks that we don’t need any more players. But when the injury crisis hits who will be laughing? I will while getting completely plastered because of our relegation.
Category: Atalanta Team NewsNHL musings, weather and the FIFA Club World Cup
By: Marco | 6 Comments
My Sharks are finally doing something. Sure we lost in OT against the Blue Jackets and got our asses kicked by Detroit (the only team I would ever want to beat SJ) that is what happens when you play two games in a row. We are still dominating our conference and division and the league for that matter and we broke the record for most points in 30 games or something like that. Even if we don’t win the elusive cup at least were better than we were last year and we were great last year. We have a young squad with a solid mix of veterans, good depth, and an explosive amount of firepower. Whether its Big Joe or Mikey Grier or Goc for that matter we have it all. I have waited 5 years for them to do something and I am glad they are doing it. Owen Nolan…..where did you go? Teemu Selänne where did you go….well at least you went on to bigger and better things.
I have one month off from school and this is what happens…constant rain. For the past week it has been rain with some rain and a side of rain topped with rain. We don’t have to worry about forest fires or a drought….now we have to worry about flooding and the like. I have played god knows how many hours of FM and managed to have a binge session of 14 hours straight. Well the weather is looking up and it should be nice out for the next week or so.
Pachuca managed to come back against Al-Ahly after a 2-0 deficit at halftime but when they went 2-0 down against LD Quito well….they couldn’t repeat. Quito played a great game and I was impressed by them. The small Ecuadorian team that could did in the Copa Libertadores against superior sides and stomped Pachuca in the CWB. Imagine if they could beat United? well probably wouldn’t happen but at least they have nothing to lose. They have some good prospects in Bolanos and company who could do it in Europe.
Category: Atalanta Team News
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