SSC Napoli
- Thread starter Sergio
- Start date
XaviMessiGirl
New member
Out of the young midfielders in Serie A right now, I'd say he has the second or third potential highest ceiling (first is Pogba, other one is Kovacic). I would liken him to Pirlo or Xavi, great passer of the ball. Really good piece of business by Napoli, I wish Liverpool had been able to sign him last summer.
ZenI
Professor Balthazar
From what I've seen he looks very very promising and also under the radar. I was thinking he could play as DM also, which makes him one of my favourit choices to be our backup for DM/Busi and CM/Xavi. Sell Song and buy this guy, a player that could play both positions would be awesome.
ceefoo
New member
Naples up in arms over Guardian’s mafia ‘joke’
Check this out... I think you'll find it rather amusing.
- The entire city of Naples is up in arms over an article in The Guardian newspaper painting the entire place as a "mafia stronghold".
Football writer Barry Glendenning mentioned the southern Italian metropolis - the third largest in the country, after Rome and Milan - in a transfer rumour article in Thursday, in which he suggested that Rafa Benitez wanted to sign Danny Welbeck for Napoli's high-flying Serie A side.
Here's what Glendenning wrote:
An innocent enough Godfather reference, you might think; after all, it's no secret that organised crime has a long, dark history in Naples, and it's also true that a well-regarded striker such as Welbeck would expect a decent offer to swap the Premier League for Serie A.
Except that for Napoli, such a reference was a red rag to a bull: the club has been one of the city's most staunchly anti-mafia organisations for years, and Glendenning's flippant joke hit a nerve in spectacular fashion.
People across the city - whether football fans or not - are said to have been enraged by the line, and a group of Napoli supporters are even threatening to sue both the newspaper and the writer.
"There were false and offensive statements against the club Napoli, the city of Naples and the Neapolitans," the fans said in a statement.
"It is false and offensive to say Napoli is ‘the club from one of Italy’s mafia strongholds.’ We understand the bitterness that a Manchester United player could be sold to SSC Napoli, but we cannot justify gratuitous insults."
The club itself has also responded, and in brilliantly clever fashion, with Napoli communications director Nicola Lombardo sending the following open letter to the Guardian's sports editor:
Lombardo went on to request a correction and an apology, both for Neapolitans and all Italians.
Check this out... I think you'll find it rather amusing.
- The entire city of Naples is up in arms over an article in The Guardian newspaper painting the entire place as a "mafia stronghold".
Football writer Barry Glendenning mentioned the southern Italian metropolis - the third largest in the country, after Rome and Milan - in a transfer rumour article in Thursday, in which he suggested that Rafa Benitez wanted to sign Danny Welbeck for Napoli's high-flying Serie A side.
Here's what Glendenning wrote:
An innocent enough Godfather reference, you might think; after all, it's no secret that organised crime has a long, dark history in Naples, and it's also true that a well-regarded striker such as Welbeck would expect a decent offer to swap the Premier League for Serie A.
Except that for Napoli, such a reference was a red rag to a bull: the club has been one of the city's most staunchly anti-mafia organisations for years, and Glendenning's flippant joke hit a nerve in spectacular fashion.
People across the city - whether football fans or not - are said to have been enraged by the line, and a group of Napoli supporters are even threatening to sue both the newspaper and the writer.
"There were false and offensive statements against the club Napoli, the city of Naples and the Neapolitans," the fans said in a statement.
"It is false and offensive to say Napoli is ‘the club from one of Italy’s mafia strongholds.’ We understand the bitterness that a Manchester United player could be sold to SSC Napoli, but we cannot justify gratuitous insults."
The club itself has also responded, and in brilliantly clever fashion, with Napoli communications director Nicola Lombardo sending the following open letter to the Guardian's sports editor:
Lombardo went on to request a correction and an apology, both for Neapolitans and all Italians.
XaviMessiGirl
New member
I can see both sides of this. I don't think the Guardian writer was trying to be malicious or discriminatory with that statement, he just wanted to make a silly movie reference (whether it's funny or not is up for debate). Nor is he implying that all Neapolitan people are in the mafia. Also, he's not exactly wrong, because the Camorra in Napoli is some of the worst mafia in Italy.
However, I can see how it would be upsetting to residents if a foreign media can't think of any other descriptor for the city. Since the Guardian is an English-speaking paper that reaches a wide audience, some people might get the wrong idea - though Napoli is one of the most dangerous cities in the country, it's still relatively safe for tourists, for example. And I mean, I make fun of Napoli all the time, but I'm not a professional journalist.
However, I can see how it would be upsetting to residents if a foreign media can't think of any other descriptor for the city. Since the Guardian is an English-speaking paper that reaches a wide audience, some people might get the wrong idea - though Napoli is one of the most dangerous cities in the country, it's still relatively safe for tourists, for example. And I mean, I make fun of Napoli all the time, but I'm not a professional journalist.
xavi_the_Boss
New member
I heard they spend money around that time and also had some italian internationals and they also had one of the best defenses in the league.
So it doesn´t seems that Napoli was a Team of average Players that only won the title because of Maradona.
Beast
The Observer
No they didn't at the time.. they were about to be relegated the season before he moved there.. Ciro Ferrera was just a kid in his first season in 1984 just playing handfull of games and Bagni (and i know you will say who he is ? ) was the only semi-known player as a midfielder.. they had no one .. other names followed after Maradona came & transformed the team completely still those names were relatively unknown like Carnavle , Di Napoli who both joined a year after Maradona took serie A by storm.. Careca & Maradona later partner in crime joined Napoli 3 years after Maradona moved there so was Alemao..
in terms of today imagine Messi moving to Elche.. suddenly next season Elche finish third in the league due to his presence ... than winning the league than winning UEFA cup (when it was a worthy trophy due to only league winners playing in the champions league )
facing Juve's Platini-Boniek and the formidable defense they had, Inter's Rummenigge , Zico's Udinese , Roma's Falcao & Cerezo etc and Milan's Maldini-Baresi - Ruud-Van Basten-Rijkaard - Costacurta without going into other names because people forget that Serie A was the super league during the 80's with all the world superstars lining up in several teams...
Beast
The Observer
He actually didn't need to ... he had a special treatment.. he never trained well , no one pissed him off... hookers , coke , celebrity life style.. treated like an actual god.. Maradona loved Napoli and for those with a little Italian blood like me would tell you for a poor southern team like Napoli to be able to beat Juve and stick it to the Northern team is really a big thing.. think Catalan-Spain , Argentina-England , Celtic-Rangers etc ... note there was a non-EU/non-Local cap and Napoli wasn't even 10/100 as rich as the big rich north teams like Inter- Juve & Milan who were just bought by than the billionaire Silvio B
Valdano was superior to Butragueno in their time together as Buitre only peaked in the late 80s-early 90s.
As for Maradona, let me quote myself:
Bro, I do not intend to shit on Maradona's legacy. On the contrary, I believe him and Messi are the two GOATs of football.
What I don't believe is this myth that he carried his team/s to all those glories. Yes he is a fantastic footballer (again, one of the 2 GOATs), but let us not go overboard.
Let's start with 86 Argentina; they only allowed 5 goals all tournament long. That number, no matter the era they played in, is phenomenal. This by itself demolishes the myth of Maradona "doing it by himself". Meanwhile, his partner on offense wasn't bad either: Jorge Valdano (of RM) scored 4 in the same tournament. To top it all off, he was coached by what a lot of people rightfully consider one of the greatest WC managers in history, Carlos Bilardo.
Sure, Maradona was by far the player of the tournament, scoring 5 and assisting 5. He was involved in 10 of Argentina's 14 goals in 7 matches. That is very impressive, but it didn't mean that the rest of the team were poor.
To put it in perspective, in Euro 84, Michael Platini scored 9 goals in 5 matches, including the winner that sent them to the Finals. Platini doubled in one tournament Diego's career goal total in the Copa America (4) but hardly anyone called/calls it a one-man effort. Was it because Maradona did it in the World Cup? I am inclined to say yes.
Let's talk about Napoli then. I will say upfront that I agree with everything you said about Diego putting Napoli on the map, but does that mean the rest of the squad was poor? Let's start with the defense again: Ciro Ferrera was the leader at the back of a team that conceded just 21 goals in their '87 title run. 21 in 30 games is a phenomenal record, then you add the 16 clean sheets.
Other notable teammates include Italian internationals Andrea Carnevale, Salvatore Bagni and (forgot his first name) De Napoli. Napoli was hardly Maradona + a bunch of scrubs.
Napoli was even better in 1990 as they added Careca to complete their Maradona-Giordano-Careca (MaGiCa) trio. Careca scored 73 in 164 games for Napoli.
Tldr; Maradona is the one of the GOATs, but he didn't do it alone because NO ONE can do it alone. Maradona + Argentina 86/90 and 80's Napoli were more like Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band, rather than Destiny's Child (if you get my drift)
One of my favorite Maradona stories was how Cannavaro was almost beat up by their teammates after putting in a hard tackle on him in practice
Football today is completely different from what it was 30 years ago, so your hypothetical situation is moot.
For example, Hellas Verona was still in Serie B in 81/82, promoted to Serie A the next season and already 4th in the league, and 2 years later in 84/85 they won Serie A. Can you imagine any one of the teams that got promoted to La Liga in 12/13 (Deportivo, Celta, or Real Valladolid) winning it in 2014/15?
So who was Verona's "Maradona" in the 80's?
The fact is, Serie A in the 80s didn't have a dominant team the way La Liga does nowadays w/ Barca and RM. And if Maradona was born 30 years later, he wouldn't be able to lead today's Elche to any sort of trophy.
Beast
The Observer
I'm sorry if you don't much about that era.. it's quite normal it's like me knowing a lot about the 60's or 70's .. however Maradona of Hellas Verona was the amazing ElKjaer Larssen one of the best Danish strikers of all time.. you can see him & Michael Laudrup destroying teams in WC 1986.. along with Di Gennaro and the German Tank Briegel
Serie A was pretty dominant back than it was the super league.. there wasn't a team without a massive star.. i mean Zico was playing for Udinese man , the great Socrates played in Fiorentina.. For every small team there was a big star..
Beast
The Observer
No man Valdano was not superior at all..Buitre was superior in all aspects in terms of talents along with Michel one of the Quinta Del Buitre members but n ...Butragueno was already a sensation in the Castilla team which won the second division it was a low point for the first team and when the 5 moved in the first team they started to rumble la liga he was a fan favorite before he even set a foot in the first team hence the 5 players where named Quinta Del Buitre (translated the 5 members of the vulture-Butragueno nick name) .. needless to say Real Madrid main striker was neither but Hugo Sanchez
Valdano was his second in Command .. it was Hugo than Buitre (creator) than Valdano (second goal scorer ) .. the team wasn't even affected when he retired due to Hepatitis a year after the world cup .. think of Butragueno as the Messi of that team.. i hope i'm making it clearer for youanyhow without derailing a lot because it's still Messi's thread... Valdano was not equivalent to Aguero and co.. yes he had an impact on us but not as talented as any of Messi's team mates... in terms of equal i think he resembles a little bit Higuain ..
hehehe.. when you watch some documentaries and what people like Ciro Ferrera or the coach Bianchi says as well as fans.. you will see probably why it ended up like this..it's true he started his coke habit in Barca but the " your wish is our command" in Napoli along with women and the mafia bosses all kissing his ass you would see how easy it is to believe you are actually god in your club & country ..One of my favorite Maradona stories was how Cannavaro was almost beat up by their teammates after putting in a hard tackle on him in practice
Although personally i believe what Baresi said about him could define him as player and Baresi was by far one of if not the best CB of all time..
when he was asked about Maradona ..
Who was the toughest opponent you ever played against?
I've faced so many. In Italy in the early '80s Juve had Platini, and Rossi. Napoli had Maradona and Careca, Inter had Altobelli; all players of great talent. If I have to pick one, it'd be Maradona; when he was on form, there was almost no way of stopping him.
You must have had some titanic battles with Diego Maradona when he was in his pomp with Napoli; any particular memories stand out? Did he ever make you look stupid? What was your tactic with him - just kick him as early as possible?
Well, the odd knock might happen, from time to time! [Chuckles] He was dangerous, he used to score against us often. We had to be very well organised; put pressure on him, doubling up, tripling up even to limit his talents. Because if it was one-on-one, you'd lose
And when someone like Baresi says that and he was partnered by Billy Costacurta , Maldini , Tassotti probably the finest 4 defenders in one lineup and had the Dutch trio at their peak of Frank Rijkaard-Ruud Gulliet & Van Basten without mentioning the likes of Donadoni-Ancelotti etc and coached by the great Sacchi at his prime.. that says a lot..
I wasn't actually asking for any name. Yes, I knew about Elkjær and knew he's on that team. I was also old enough to watch him in 1986, although I was very young back then and it was my first tournament I watched "live" on TV.
My point was despite being a very good player, Elkjær was no "greatest of all time." And what he achieved with Verona should put Maradona's achievement with Napoli into perspective. While Maradona helped turn a relegation-battling team into league champion in a few season, some other guy had already done a similar feat by helping take a recently-promoted team to the league title. Although Maradona was definitely one of the greatest footballers in history, what he did with Napoli speaks more about how evenly powered the teams in Serie A were than his quality as a footballer.
You wouldn't expect Elkjær to lead today's Elche to trophy if he was born 30 years late, would you?
That's my point, every team had a star so there wasn't one truly dominant team within the league, unlike today's RM/Barca in Spain, PSG in France, Bayern in Germany... I could go on. So it was a lot easier back then to turn a mid-table club into a title challenger by adding 1 superstars and a few more quality players.
Every top league nowadays is dominated by 1 or 2 teams, with a squad full of international superstars, and no one single player, no matter how great, can turn a relegation-battling team into title challenger.
Iarwain
New member
What? Both Carnevale and Di Napoli were integral part of the team that won the first Napoli title.
Lol. Why don't you also imagine that Elche gets FINANCIAL POWER to break WORLD RECORD TRANSFER FEE to bring Messi in, like Napoli did in Maradona case.
Napoli finished 8th in Maradona's first season.
Home of Barca Fans
