Serie A Quick Review/Summary/Best and Worst

By: Jeremy | June 1st, 2009

The season is finally over. Some teams disappointed and some teams overachieved, but most teams did what they were expected to do. While the top teams can always finish in some inverse order, you arent going to see Inter or Milan finish mid table, even if they have everything possible go against them. Relegation teams can easily be identified early on, and occasionally one will surprise and push for a midtable finish(Cagliari), but for the most part we know who they are. Here is how I predicted them in the beginning and how they actually finished.

Predicted Finish Actual Finish
1. Milan Inter
2. Inter Juventus
3. Juve Milan
4. Roma Fiorentina
5. Fiorentina Genoa
6. Lazio Roma
7. Napoli Udinese
8. Udinese Palermo
9. Sampdoria Cagliari
10. Palermo Lazio
11. Genoa Atalanta
12. Atalanta Napoli
13. Torino Sampdoria
14. Catania Siena
15. Bologna Catania
16. Chievo Chievo
17. CAGLIARI Bologna
18. Reggina Torino
19. Siena Reggina
20. Lecce. Lecce

Overall, probably not a very good job. I only got three of the four CL teams and two of the relegation teams. What matters is how badly I missed the mid table teams. I was all over the place. I underestimated Genoa by a bunch and overestimated Torino, who ended up getting relegated. I even picked Siena down too far. Otherwise the surprise of Cagliari and the disappointment of Sampdoria was probably something we all missed.

Best team: Inter. Even in their often lethargic approach, they do what they have to do to win. With unlimited money, injuries and turmoil in Milan and Juve, first place was theirs for the taking. Say what you want about them, its tough to finish first in Serie A so they should be given respect. With the CL performance however, it made for a disappointing year.

Biggest surprise: Cagliari. Finished by most to be relegated or barely safe, they finished in the top half of the table and could have been an even more serious threat for a European spot had they not given away so many points after the mid season run.

Biggest disappointment: Torino. The team seemed in trouble the whole year and while they were in the relegation discussion from day one, this team with its history should not be relegated. They should have done better.

Best player: Ibrahimovic. Like him or not, he was a rock for Inter. Seems like he always did something that won a game or salvaged what would have been an otherwise bad result. The fact he won the top scorer trophy with a nice little back heel to win a game just summed up the year for him.

Biggest disappointment: Quaresma. Just another reason to hate the big clubs. Inter can spend 35 million on a player who completely flops and they still have enough depth to win the league. He came over from Porto for 35 million plus young Pele. He didnt do crap and got sent to Chelsea where he failed also. There were quite a few other disappointments around Serie A, but Quaresma has to stand out. Although I like Mourinho, his pushing for this player and the bad result really puts a damper on his resume. At 25 Quaresma is still young and talented and no doubt has a bunch of Italian teams ready to give him a chance, but with Figo gone, expect him to be given another chance unless another semi big club offers Inter some real money for him. Id love to have him in Cagliari, but I wouldnt pay much for him.

Coach of the Year: Allegri. Any coach who can work for Cellino, lose the first five games of his tenure, keep his job, and then lead his team to the brink of Europe when they were expected to go down after such a bad start, has to be coach of the year. His even temperment, experience as a player, and patience will be a blessing for Cagliari as long as he stays. He will likely move to a bigger club sooner rather then later, but he has helped Cagliari move away from being relegation fodder to a team who should be able to play at least mid table type football next year. He must keep up the momentum to take advantage of his growing reputation as one of the best young coaches in Italy.

Who would you select in these categories?

If you are a Cagliari fan and the team survives, like it or not, it is a good year. The loss in the final game to Udinese shows that absent a real influx of talent, it is going to be tough to finish in the top six. Who are we going to finish ahead of that we didnt this year? Some real good teams in front of us and many teams with potential just below us. What is coming in from Serie B is better then what is going back down so I think the league is tougher next year. We also have some young players that we will lose in the offseason and we need to bring in some talent this summer if we are going to maintain our place next year.

Ill start looking at each player as we go through the summer and will look for information that may give us an idea as to who stays, who goes, and who might be arriving.

Overall I hope it was an enjoyable year for all the fans and I appreciate everyones comments and thoughts from week to week.