Lazio V Juventus- Copppa Italia 2nd Leg

Death by away goal


Everyone who believed that the big clubs don’t care about the cup matches are wrong, these two teams were fighting tooth and nail for the winning goal. This match came after a week of Juve complaints about not getting a penalty in the game against Genoa, and the first thing in the Coppa Italia second leg against Lazio, they were again denied a penalty, Mirko Vucinic was the player brought down by Federico Marchetti. And I just have this dreaded feeling that Antonio Conte will try and blame this singular event for Juventus’ exit of the competition, when the fact is; there was a lot more to their expulsion from the competition.

The game started rather nervy and it was rather ragged at times, not something you expect from two teams that boost players of such high quality. Yet with Juve throwing at Lazio, they couldn’t seem to find a way through. One player that seemed to have me off my seat more than once was Sebastian Giovinco, on a number of occasions he went down far too easily and instead of getting up to help his teammates, he would be seen constantly complaining to the referee. This kind of behaviour is not worthy of Champions, and I have to say, it comes from the top. Conte has been complaining about everyone else, rather than improving on his own game.

Conte must be able to come to terms with the harsh truth, that is, his front men aren’t working hard enough, Vucinic is constantly seen complaining to the referee or his own teammates, Giovinco is clearly not the finished product, as his shots are often wayward or not strong enough, as we saw in the final minutes of stoppage time when the could’ve won it, and they are all far too selfish.

But more troubling than this, is the fact that at the end of the game when it looked as though Vidal had forced it into extra time, they conceded within minutes! They cannot lose concentration at any moment of the game, especially when you have a slender lead.

Conte did take this as an opportunity to give the likes of Andrea Pirlo and Claudio Marchisio a rest, but they were brought on late in the game and did come tantalisingly close, yet it was too little too late, now they have one less competition to worry about!

Happy 35th Birthday Gigi!

Happy Birthday Gianluigi Buffon!

35 years may have gone by, but he is always getting better and always willing to learn new things, that’s what makes him so great… his willingness and ability to see criticism or even a loss as an opportunity to get better. His humility has blessed him with top flight football, from the age of 15 at Parma to the mature age of 35, now he will always be regarded with tremendous respect, and why I hear you ask, it’s because he treats everyone with respect, he’s sincere, loyal, honest and constructive, all the qualities that would make him a pleasure to work with.

His tremendous sportsmanship has more recently been rewarded with the Cartellino Viola award after his team’s loss to AC Milan. Juventus lost in controversial circumstances but instead of shouting conspiracy, he just praised his opposition and accepted that they didn’t play as good as expected. This act just confirms what I’ve been saying for years… this is the classiest man in sport and also the most loved. He is loved in Italy for his continued professionalism on and off the pitch.

The Old Lady may have the privilege of working with him till 2015. Buffon has made clear that he had hoped for a short term contract, don’t get the wrong idea, he hopes to end his career at Juve but he wants to be remembered as the “top notch” keeper he is, and not only that, but he’s willing to take a pay cut- just goes to show you that his love of the game goes further than his love of money.

Gigi has been at Juventus since 2001 and has collected many accolades during that period, yet I believe that giving him the captains’ armband, officially recognising that he is captain ranks up near the top of his achievements. As a true captain he is not afraid to take responsibility of his troops, as he does in every match. But during the match against a 10 man Sampdoria he made an error that resulted in the first goal, and he owned up to that, and in the next match he was extra hard on himself and made sure he didn’t make the same mistake again. He continues to get better after any bump in the road and never lets it have a negative impact on the game.

He is the perfect role model for any young keeper, he’s got great reflexes, a great command of what’s going on in front of him and most importantly he doesn’t view every mistake as a negative, rather something he can learn from. It’s probably comes as no surprise that the young keeper Nicola Leali has aspirations of becoming “the next Buffon”. Leali has been loaned out by Juve, so that he can gain some valuable experience that can only come from playing time, and we all know that as long as Gigi is between the posts that will be rather difficult.

It is still hard to fathom that he has been ignored when it came to the Ballon D’or, yet again! The first time was after the triumphs of 2006 when Italy won the World Cup, that year fellow team mate Fabio Cannavaro got it for leading Italy to success, and he was again in the running for it in 2012 after the tremendous run Italy had in the Euro’s, but again he was ignored, and it looked like if you didn’t play in La Liga you were going to be overlooked!

Andrea Agnelli is still hoping, along with every other fan of Italian football, that the award finds its way back to Italy soon and that Buffon can become the second goalkeeper to receive it. If Gigi can help the Bianconeri win the Champions League within the next 2 years..There’s still hope!

So to wrap up, Buffon is loved and respected by his peers and looked up by aspiring keepers, but above all, he is, and always will be adored by the fans!

Buon Compleanno Gigi!

The Old Lady has lost her dignity

The reactions of everyone connected to Juventus football club, this includes manager, directors, players and the fans was an utter disgrace and I’m a little embarrassed for them. Juventus are a great club with tremendous history and tradition, but last night they lost some of that grace and were more like out of control thugs.

Everyone knows they should have won the game with ease, yet they didn’t, and there’s no conspiracy, they just didn’t have the required edge. And instead of blaming everyone else, maybe they should have a good long think about how they couldn’t beat a 10 man Genoa side!

The comments made by Antonio Conte have just made him a bigger target and have made sure that every official will make it harder not easier for Juve to get any decision in the future. His outburst and insisting that the referee should be sacked just makes him seem rather small and petty. Juve have an air of entitlement about them that will go against them in the future, they believe that they ought to win everything just for showing up, sorry guys, but that’s not how it works.

Beppe Morrata didn’t help anything when he suggested that the reason why they didn’t get the penalty was because the referee was from Naples and wanted to give Napoli an advantage! He just made an enemy where there wasn’t one, someone in his position should learn to keep his mouth shut!

Juve could have used this opportunity to be the bigger person, instead they decided to go out of their way to seem like spoilt children. Seeing the ref being surrounded by all the Juve players and Conte running after him like a crazed man made me feel deeply saddened by this whole debacle.

Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda...

Juventus V Genoa


This was a game that football commentators were saying that Juventus should win easily, it didn’t work out that way, Genoa were organised and didn’t try to be too flashy but didn’t shy away from their opposition. Juventus will look back at this game and view it as two points dropped and with Lazio losing to Chievo earlier on in the day, one team that will be praising the football Gods are Napoli who sit in second.

The game started off rather positive with early strike from Claudio Marchisio in the 22nd minute, but his shot just went wide of the post. A large part of the first half was like this, some close calls and near misses. Juve had another good chance a minute before the interval with Fabio Quagliarella, he was just an inch behind the ball to tap it in. Throughout the game Juve had over 60% possession but when you don’t try and make the most of it you will get punished.

Juve had recognised this and the second half they came out more determined to open the scoring, and lo and behold, on the 51st minute Fabio Quagliarella got on the end of a Stephen Lichtsteiner cross and with a little help from the Genoa player, it was advantage Juve. Yet with all their dominance of the game they could not add to it and were duly punished when former teammate Marco Boriello levelled the scoring on the 68th minute. Juve had 16 shots throughout the entire game and should have put it to bed earlier.

The Old Lady was trying everything, yet they couldn’t get through Genoa, and that was made even harder when they went down to 10 men. All Genoa had to do was to get everyone behind the ball and this would frustrate the leaders even more. There was a bright spark however, young Stefano Beltrame came on as a late sun for Marchisio in the 82nd minute. The 19 year-old showed some skill and even had the confidence to take a strike on goal.

The thing that did trouble me slightly was the fact that Mirku Vucinic had to legitimate penalty claims waved away, and one was in the last minute. It just goes to show that if you have a certain reputation, people will choice to overlook any claims. Antonio Conte may have been fuming at the final whistle, but the truth is, this game should have been put to bed earlier, they only have themselves to blame!

Gianluigi Buffon

Coppa Italia Semi- final 1st leg

Juventus V Lazio


The result is not what we were hoping for as it now puts extra pressure on Juventus in the second leg in Rome. The game started off promising with an attempt in the first 45 second by Claudio Marchisio, but it was quickly snuffed out by Marchetti. The first half was more of this, chances by Juve bt great goalkeeping by the keeper to deny them.

Juve had a slightly weakened squad with Andrea Pirlo, Nickolas Bendtner, Asamoah, Quagliarella, Pepe and Chiellini all out with injuries or suspensions. But that can’t be an excuse as Lazio were without their deadly striker; Miroslav Klose, and to be honest, I did breathe a sigh of relief upon hearing that!

That didn’t exactly have the impact I had desired, after some chances by Leonardo Bonucci and Paul Pogba went amiss Lazio grew more confident and more organise in their play. And worse was to come for fans of The Old Lady as Bonnuci was hobbling about the pitch. Antonio Conte had used this game to use some less used squad players like Federico Peluso and Luca Marrone, the latter was a bit shaky and at one point almost scored an own goal, but Andrea Barzagli was there to mop up. Marrone is not as comfortable in defence as he is in midfield and it showed.

During the first 45 minute Juve had do many chance that went begging and it looked more than likely that they were going to made to regret theses misses. But on the 63rd Peluso got on the end of a Juve corner and scored his first goal as a Juve player, and boy was it an important one! The funny thing was that from the side it looked as though he was going to be replaced by Mirku Vucinic.

Vucinic did eventually come on, but he seemed rather lazy and a few times he was unable to hold up the ball and gave it straight back to Lazio, much to the annoyance of Vidal. Having spoken a lot about Juventus’ missed chances, it was more to do with Fedrico Marchetti’s cat like reflexes than the strikers not working hard enough, at one point it looked as though the ball was in but the keeper quickly changed direction and clawed it away.

Late on in the game, the tension was rising as Lazio were starting to believe they could get an advantage, and on the 83rd minute Stefano Mauri got the wrong side of De Ceglie and while De Ceglie was trying to stop the man, Mauri toe poked it across the line to equalise on the night and now in a weeks’ time it will be advantage Lazio.

So all in all, not a complete disaster, but Conte does have a few things to sort out and one of them is Vucinic!

Toto not enough as Udine fall.

Juventus V Udinese




On a freezing cold evening in Turin the real Juventus showed up, and what a show they put on. After only collecting a point in their last 2 games of the New Year a victory was absolutely necessary. The New Year had seen Lazio and Napoli climb within 2 points of the Bianconeri, it had started to look as though this was Juve’s title to lose.

Lazio had been held to a draw earlier in the day and this was the perfect opportunity to get back to winning ways and to put significant space between them and the chasing pack. The Old Lady had obviously been thinking the same thing as Juve came out aggressively and had their first attack within 20 minutes. Arturo Vidal had his rocket of a shot tipped over the crossbar while Emanuele Giacchirini was denied by the keepers’ legs.

The plaudits may well go the young Frenchmen, Paul Pogba that opened the scoring on the 41st minute with a tremendous shot from 35 yards out, but Giacchirini shouldn’t be overlooked especially by Antonio Conte, Because the little man ran himself into the ground trying again and again to create opportunities.

Juve were without key figures like; Giorgio Chiellini, Claudio Marchisio and Andrea Pirlo, these players had become almost a permanent fixture in the starting line up, this could also be why they are injured, because Conte doesn’t rotate these players as much, they are more vulnerable to injuries. Hopefully this performance will show the Coach that there are a few other names that can be called upon.

After Udinese had conceded the goal, it was as though they had woken up, yet they didn’t have the quality upfront to cause any real damage, and Gianluigi Buffon only had to make 2 saves throughout the entire match. Even when their talisman Antonio Di Natale came on in the 51st minute, there was little he could do to affect the game.

Pogba, on the other hand was beaming with confidence and thought he would give it another go, and in the 66th minute from a long way out, he struck again, and it was an equally amazing goal but more importantly it helped secure the win, as we know from the game against Parma, you can’t rest on your laurels just because you’re up by one goal.

Mirku Vucinic helped to secure the three points on the 72nd minute, his goal was more pecuiliar as it seemed to bounce in, but that’s what we come to expect from him. And to add icing to the cake Alessandro Matri got a goal on the 80th minute, which he in no doubt enjoyed as he had been struggling to find the back of the net recently.

It ended 4-0, yet there was a sight at the 78th minute when Vidal limped off to be replace by Simone Padoin. What this display showed to the rest of Serie A, was that Juve are in no mood to give up their title without a fight. With the Coppa Italia game against Lazio on Tuesday, let’s hope that the same spirit of determination shows up!

FORZA JUVENTUS!!

Claudio Marchisio HD | Il Principino | Capitano Futuro

27 years of Il Principino!

Happy Birthday Claudio!

The Little Prince of Turin turns 27 today and 20 of these wonderful years were in the black and white colour of The Old Lady albeit for one year when he was sent on loan to Empoli to get some valuable playing time. This experience may have taken him away from his beloved Juventus, yet it has made him even better and has made him into the extraordinary player that he is today.

His pace, work ethic, dribbling, precise passing and shooting has made him invaluable to his club and country and his ability to play well wither either foot has made him a versatile player and a perfect partner to fellow team- mates Andrea Pirlo and Arturo Vidal. This season has seen him only score 4 times in 17 appearances, maybe not a huge haul of goals like last season when he was only second in the goal tally to Alessandro Matri, yet there is still so much more to this hard tackling midfielder.

He may not be captain yet, but to many fans, he really is. He is only Vice Captain behind Giorgio Chiellini but he has the qualities of a captain. He is a humble lad and is willing to wait his turn. He has the ability to come out on the losing side and see the positive. Juventus had their 49 game unbeaten run wiped out when they lost to Inter in November, yet he refuses to despair and urged his team mates to view this as a “ wake up call” and reminds them never to lose focus. Juve went on to beat FC Nords” in the Champion League and eventually knocked out reigning champions, Chelsea. Now, how’s that for a pep talk?!

Earlier this month he did cause so controversy when talking about his dislike of Napoli. Which seemed to be out of character and the situation was blown way out of proportion thanks to the media! Many people including Napoli’s Coach, Walter Mazzarri came to his defence..of sort! The Napoli Coach had seen this as a compliment rather than an insult, claiming that it indicate that they were a team that could really upset Juve. You see, everyone has such high regards for Marchisio that even when he makes a blunder like this, they try to see a positive!

He has been compared to Italy legend Marco Tardilli so many times I’ve lost count! He sees this as a huge compliment but has always insisted that he wanted to make a name for himself and maybe one day future generations will be seen as the next Claudio Marchisio!

He will not be playing tonights game against Udinese due to an injury sustained in the game against Sampdoria, a game that saw him play on through the pain because he knew his team had no more subs left and only left the pitch in injury time, when the pain became to much. This is the kind of hard working, self sacrificing people that every team needs and it’s a shame that his team will be without him today.

Happy Birthday “ Il Principino” and let’s hope you get a great present in the form of an amazing victory tonight!

The age of STUPID!

The fall of an Empire

It is inevitable that a once great power will lose their ability to dominate, yet the amount a civilization falls depends on a lot of things but maybe most importantly the governments. Nearly every Empire has a lifespan of 250 years, about 10 generations, and it look a hell of a lot like we have reached the end of ours, yet there are people still clinging onto delusions of grandeur. Here are the six stages of an empire, where do you think we are? Let me give you a hint, it isn’t THE AGE OF INTELLECT!

1. The age of pioneers

2. The age of conquest

3. The age of commerce

4. The age of affluence

5. The age of intellect

6. The age of decadence

The age of decadence can be identified by the following:

1. Having an over extended and poor disciplined military

2. People flaunting enormous wealth

3. Widening gap between rich and poor

4. Collective delusion

5. An increased obsession with sex
( the above list is adapted fron Four Horseman, DVD, 2012)

There is something seriously wrong with the world, where on one hand people are suffering from obesity and on the other there are people starving. There is so much waste in the western world, it makes me sick, and it’s because of this culture of consumerism, people think that they need more than they do and end up wasting the rest.

People should open their eyes, we don’t live in a democracy which is a government by the people. Because if we did, are you telling me that people really want to live this way?! We live in a plutocracy, which is a government by the rich, because only they are phychotic enough to value profit over people!

All square at the Tardini

Parma V Juventus

The second game of 2013 for The Old Lady, not looking that good. Before the winter break they were leading by a whopping eight points, now it’s been whittled down to three. Juventus had been in the news earlier in the week, or should I say Claudio Marchisio was in the news for his apparent “antipathy” towards Napoli, Marchisio did not feature in this game due to the heavy bruising on his knee, which was a miss as Juve could have used his energy in this game.

It took Juve a while to get started as their opponents: Parma were using the same type of formation as them and they sort of cancelled each other out. For the first half an hour they were still trying to get a feel for the home side, but I have to say, it did look Parma were going to strike first especially after Gianluigi Buffon made a meal out of a back pass and then uncharacteristically flapping at the ball. As it was nearing the end of the first half Juve were getting more involved and it had looked like they had found the kink in the armour. Yet it was to go goal less at half time thanks to some wonderful saves from Antonio Mirante, throughout the game he was forced to make eight.

The second half saw a Juve side with more urgency. What was very encouraging was how they played for each other, and if someone missed a pass there was always some running alongside to gather it, thus always keeping possession. Over the whole ninety minutes The Bianconeri kept possession for 57% of the time, it may not be as wide a gap as before but that was due to the organisation and hunger of the home side. And this was a home side that hasn’t lost a game so far, and we all know how keeping that unbeaten record intact can be a huge motivator!

But eventually the Great Wall of Parma gave in, but it was due to a superbly taken free kick by Andrea Pirlo and a little luck thanks to a deflection. Finally Mirante was beaten in the 52nd minute, but had it not been for the deflection, the keeper would have had it covered. This did not dampen their spirits as Parma came harder and more often, yet they lacked that quality upfront to cause Buffon any real danger. Having said that Parma did have a talent in the making, in the name of Ishak Belfodil, the young Algerian born player was turning out to be quite a talent.

But as fortunes would have it, he did not score the equaliser, that achievement went to second half sub: Nicola Sansone in the 77th minute, he found himself ahead of Martin Caceras and he was straight on goal.

Juventus will see this as two points lost and whether or not it will be detrimental to their chance of retaining the title, only time will tell, all we can say is that we miss Giorgio Chiellini!

I must go back!

I need to go back!

Does anyone remember how Jack felt the first time they left the island in Lost, well that’s how I feel being away from Italy- minus the pills addiction of course! This place is becoming more and more like a prison and the memory of being surrounded by so much beauty is eating away at me. My last visit to Italia was April 2011, I visited Florence, the heart of the Renaissance and everywhere you would look there was art and culture. Not to leave out the beautiful landscapes, and in this jewel of a city there are areas where traffic is restricted! A city for the people, unlike London, where it is more about the cars and to hell with the people.

In every city I’ve been to in Italy, you always get this sense that the most important thing should be you. It’s not like the media here makes it out to be, they are not lazy and spend all their time either sleeping or eating, they just make sure they take time for themselves and unlike here, where you feel rushed and hurried around, over there you can take your time and you don’t feel as though you have to make a decision straight away.

In every Italian city there are always plenty of Piazzas or squares where you can sit and relax after a hard days shop! What I love most about that Country other than the food, football, history, culture and architecture are the trees, I know it may seem ridiculous but in a country where they are demolishing everything green to make room for a new shopping centre or business park, it’s a pleasure to see some green. And what I find wonderful is how the councils actually take responsibility for the upkeep of these areas.

I have always had a fondness toward Ancient Civilization and the impact they have made on the modern world, and in 2004 my dream came true, I was in Rome! It may have only been for a shot time ( a weekend in July) but I took in all the history and the heat! Rome is a very touristy city, so I was prepared for the queues, but what I wasn’t prepared for was the heat. I was so hot at one point I almost fainted! This was partly due to the amount of pollution which makes it feel hotter than it actually is, but it was mainly my fault, you see I was wearing dark jeans and not drinking enough water!

I didn’t make the same mistake during my second visit. On my second trip to this wonderful country I spent a week in Florence and a day in Pisa in 2005- I have been twice since then! What can be said except breathtaking! And the food wasn’t half bad either! Fresh and full of flavour, unlike here where you get food that lasts longer and is larger in size but has absolutely no flavour! And also Italian Ice-cream is the best- rich and creamy, bellisimo!

In 2006 we went to Milan for a weekend, and it was impressive! Not exactly cheap either, food and clothing will cost you a pretty penny as this is where many of the high class designers are based like; Prada, Armarni and Versace but the people are always warm and friendly and the nightlife is great- no drunken yobbos to be found. The public transport is cheap and fast, and one day we visited the romantic city of Verona- and yes, we went to Juliette’s house, no to pay pilgrimage but to visit the gift shop. The next day we went to Como to see the lake- well, a tiny part of it, but it was majestic!

In 2007 as my graduation present we went to Florence for a weekend, but as I had been before, we took the train to Rome. And as I love history I was absolutely delighted to be there again- in sensible clothes this time!

I waited almost two years for my next visit and it was perhaps the most enjoyable. With my earlier trips I was always with my sister, but this time I went with my good friend and it was also my birthday, so the delight was doubled! I went to Turin in 2010, home to my beloved team Juventus. It was a bit of a hassle getting there as there were no direct flights, so I had to get a connecting flight which did take a huge chunk of the day, but let me tell you it was worth it.

The Alps, the Baroque style buildings, the Juventus store and best of all Turin is the greenest city in Italy, so I was in heaven! But now I’m here, full of rude people rushing and hurrying to do what their master’s tell them.

Juventus - Campione D'Inverno 2012/13 HD - Winter Champions

Italia Torino Video

One film to rule them all..

The Lord of the Rings trilogy




These films are perhaps the greatest movies of the last ten years! They are probably the most perfect example of filmmaking of our time. They had everything, perfect casting, brilliant acting. Majestic locations but above all, a brilliant storyline, this is in large part because they are adapted from books and so the story was already there, but if you had the wrong set of writers who didn’t have an appreciation for the words of J.R.R Tolkein, it could have gone very wrong. Writing and directing is probably the hardest part because it take an extraordinary amount of patience and attention to detail to get it as close to the books as possible.

The Lord of the Rings is classed as a literary classic, so it was the right thing to have experts as a part of the filmmaking process. This will appease the fans and scholars, because the right amount of care and effort will be poured into the production of the movies- and it showed!

The decision on who to cast for each role was a stroke of pure genius as they had the perfect mixture of veteran actors like: Sir Ian Mckellen, Christopher Lee, Ian Holm, Cate Blanchette, Hugo Weaving, John Rhys- Davies, Sean Bean and Viggo Mortensen and the new kids on the block like Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan and Orlando Bloom. But the true heart of the films were the two lead hobbits, Frodo and Sam played by Elijah Wood and Sean Astin, their friendship and loyalty to each other made you fall in love with these characters.

The idea of casting Liv Tyler as the Elvish princess was a bit if a risk, as I have seen her previous movies and I was a bit nervous- no offence intended. But she brought her A- game and through her acting she portrayed the loneliness and the inner conflict whether or not to stay with Aragorn or to be with her people. And the dedication in her to learn Elvish was greatly appreciated!

Viggo Mortensen was a last minute add on, but I tell you, through his performance it looks as though he was born to play Aragorn. And to think Stuart Townsend was the initial choice. No offence to him, but to play this type of role it always had to be someone a little older and who had the ability to convey all those enduring years- and that was always going to be Viggo!

Sean Bean was another great choice as he has the look of an old style warrior and he has been in shows like Sharpe, so we knew he had the ability to play noble and heroic Boromir. He also has that angst ridden look that has had him pegged as a villain in many films such as: Patriot Games , Goldeneye and Don’t Say a Word. His portrayal of Boromir had a touch of everything but most of all he makes the audience see how torn his character really is, and that he’s not really a villain but a hero with some problems.

The casting director should be applauded, each actor was perfect for the role and why I here you say, because many of them are classically trained. We should be thankful for the fact that New Line Cinema even financed these film, because let’s face it, it did have some risks. Peter Jackson in all his wisdom decided to do all three films back to back. This could have backfired because if the first film tanked than they would have wasted the studio’s money. But back then the bankers were not in charge of the films and you had the choice whether or not to take these risks. Unlike now, where if you can’t guarantee a success, it won’t get made.

And the whole way they measure success is wrong, I don’t know about everyone else, but success to me is if 10 years have gone by and people still hold your film in high esteem and it is still talked about, I hate going to the cinema, I find the people noisy and I can’t seem to watch the film without getting disturbed, so I wait till the DVD comes out so that I can watch it in peace. So by measuring a success of a film purely on the number of tickets sold is not entirely accurate.

Nowadays the most “ successful film” is the one willing to pay the most for marketing and PR, and any great movies become background noise to that monstrosity of a film, forget they fact that it will probably be forgotten within a month.

I fear that no one will take a risk and that films Like The Lord of the Ring will become a thing of the past, how sad is this fact, how can we sit back and deny future generations true genius and let them be hypnotised into watching things like Twishite!

I weep for the future!

TORINO - IL VALENTINO - AUTUNNO 2011

L' Addio di Alessandro Del Piero "Un campione immenso"

The Battle of the North.

Coppa Italia


Historically speaking not a lot separates the two giant clubs for the north of the peninsular. Both Milan and Juve have been victorious 4 times and have drawn 3 times, yet Juventus are coming off a shocking defeat in Serie A where they lost 2-1 to a 10 man Sampdoria team, on the other hand, Milan were victorious against Siena by the same result yet there are whispers that Allegri will get the axe in the summer- which always adds a bit of pressure to the game!

The most recent times these two powerhouses met was last year, where Juve emerged victorious over two legs, but it was anything but a foregone conclusion. Juventus beat the Rossoneri at the San Siro 2-1 with a wonderful performance (and goals) by the Uruguayan, Martin Caceras. This season however, Caceras has only made 8 appearances and 3 were as a substitute and he has only scored 1 goal, however seeing as though he is a defender we can let that go, The Old Lady has the likes of Sebastian Giovinco, Alessandro Matri, Fabio Quagliarella and Mirko Vucinic to help in that department.

The second leg was a much more heated affair as Juve had a slim lead that could be overturned rather easily and the players knew this. However the heat didn’t start because of this, Sully Muntari made a bad tackle on Stephen Lichtsteiner that led to a heated argument afterwards! The game produce 10 yellow cards overall.

Alessandro Del Piero scored the first goal that helped Juve to a 3-1 half time lead. This time we can’t look to Del Piero for help. As he is no longer with the club (sobs). After the second half interval the away side came out and played as if they were home. A headed strike from Mesbah and then a last gasp strike by Maxi Lopez forced the game to extra time. A wonder strike from Vucinic insured Juventus’ place in the final where they eventually lost to a feisty Napoli side.

Now all eyes will be fixed on the Juventus Stadium tomorrow to see if Juve can get back to winning ways and erase last weekends result from people’s memory!

Juventus V Sampdoria

Not exactly the best start to the new year, and the worst thing was I couldn't watch it live, so I heard about the shocking loss before I saw it! Juve didn't start with the usual intensity that we are so used to seeing, they were rather sluggish to start, bur I thought that with a numerical advantage for over an hour they could win with relative ease.

Yet that was not the case and after the second half internal Samp came out all guns blazing and were looking to upset the balance of power. And the sure did, on 52 minutes Mauri Icardi hit the ball more in hope then anything else, but Gigi Buffon made a rare mistake and it found its way nestling in the back of the net. Buffon took responsibility for this mistake, but I don't believe it's his fault as the team had ample time to double the lead, and they couldn't against a 10 man Sampdoria side??

It got even worse for them when Icardi scored again, this time there was no luck evolved as Icardi smashed it in the top left hand corner from a very acute angle. This was Juve third defeat this season and the second in the new stadium. Juve did wake up near the end, but by then it was too late, and to make things even worse Marchisio collapsed in a heap and had to be stretchered off. Although we know now that the injury was not too serious, but I doubt he'll be ready to play against Milan in the Coppa Italia, a Milan team that won their game at the weekend.

Smartest species on the Planet...Really??

What have we done to the world?

Earthquakes in Alaska, Bushfires in the Australian outback and devastating flooding in the UK, yet still there are people out there who refuse to believe in climate change. What is so sad was that this could have been avoided, we had the technology and ability to try and prevent in yet we let the short term profits blind us from the long term risks. How can we call ourselves the smartest species on the planet? We’re so smart that we’ve almost drained the planet of its natural resources, driving so many other species to the verge of extinction and are on the verge of killing ourselves.

Many people you speak to will only remember things that happened recently and will forget everything before that. People have forgotten the major heatwave in 2003 that claimed so many lives in Europe, many of them elderly or the Tsunami in Indonesia that claimed so many lives ( they need a movie to be made to remember it). It is in a person’s nature just to focus on what affects them, but in this globalised world whatever happens on the other side of the planet will affect you.

If there is flooding or extreme drought, like we saw this year around the world, what do you think will happen to food prices?? Nearly all our food is imported because we don’t have the climate to grow oranges or tomatoes, so prices will soar and this will affect everyone- except the super rich of course! But this backward government doesn’t really care about anyone but the super rich, so it probably won’t affect them.

The most recent episode of extreme weather was the flooding last month to large parts of the UK, I guess they're regretting chopping down all the trees..oh how nature could have helped. How in the world did they not see this coming and prepare for it?? There are things that the government could have put in place to avoid the devastating affects of these flooded areas that could have saved so much money on repairs. Don’t even get me started on our third world public transport!! Nearly all trains were cancelled due to flooding etc, why is there nothing set in place to avoid this kind of disruption?? This government can only react to the immediate dangers they don’t have the ability to plan ahead.

And I ask you, what qualifies this country to be called “ great” Britain, it should be called mediocre Britain!

I weep for the future of humanity.

People in this country are so brainwashed into believing this is such a wonderful country, they should try opening their eyes! Anything that had any beauty is having to make way for ugly buildings that are solely there to take your money and make you believe you need these things and can’t live without them. Before people criticise other countries for violating human rights and taking away people’s civil liberties, maybe they should stop and look here first.


This country may be marginally better than some countries but that is not saying much! There is still a hell of a lot of corruption in this country, they have just become better at hiding it and the people are just programmed to look the other way. Does anyone know where our taxes go?? They are not going towards anything that can benefit the public like: schools, public transport, roads or healthcare, these institutions are losing funding and it is being allocated to the ones who will not be named.

Is anyone else befuddled by the fact that ticket prices for trains have risen again?!! I seem to remember a time when I could get a travel card for £8, now it’s £12.60!! And they say the money is paying the way for improvements?? What improvements, they forget that they sold the transport system to private business and all they care about is profit for them and their shareholders, they don’t give a damm about the general public!

The rights of workers are being systematically taken away, the right to freedom of speech or even assembly is being continually violated. Any person that dares to protest or march peacefully will be targeted and most likely will be put in jail or be denied future opportunities because they have been labelled as a troublemaker. Maybe before we invade and destroy countries to try and bring democracy, we should try spreading it here first!

And why are people not talking about these issues? It’s rather simple, the media!! There is no such thing as free press, nearly all the news stations are owned by private corporations that have a particular political view that they want to put forward and they will only provide information that supports that view, so in the end the people are exposed to just that view and that combined with poor education leads to a country of idiots! And if you dare to show a different perspective on a “hot topic” your broadcasting licence will disappear, just look what happened to Press TV.

It’s not only the television media but also newspapers. They are so interested in making profit that the forget about providing good solid information, what they do provide is either celebrity gossip, sports results and just plain and simple distractions, things that they know that are not good for us but we secretly crave… let me ask you one thing; an alcoholic may want a drink, but that doesn’t mean you should give it to him! What has happened to the media’s integrity?!

People who want to better themselves have to rely on things other than mainstream media or the government, they have to make a conscious decision to avoid all the lies and try to branch out a bit. Yet that is difficult for many people who work all day, but this is all the more reason why they should try. The absurd working hours are all designed to turn you into to mindless zombies that don’t have the power to resist all this mindless junk that is being thrown at you. And hence you’ll get a nation of idiots, someone has to be brave enough to break the cycle.

MVP 2.0 | Marchisio-Vidal-Pirlo | 2012/13 HD

Happy 2013!

Welcome to the age of STUPID

The Mayans were right about something, it is the end, the end of common sense and the age of the idiot. In what other culture is stupidity so celebrated, with the rise of social media and not to forget youtube, idiots have popped out of every hole in every country with this sick ambition that if they are stupid enough they will become famous. Well I’m sorry to burst your bubble but that’s a fantasy you’re chasing, all you’re doing is providing something mildly entertaining for an equally sick individual.

Everyone has to be worried when fame is all anyone seeks, not intelligence, health, happiness but just fame. People came become famous one day and forgotten the next, this year we’ve bared witness to the rise of South Korean youtube sensation, the reason why the annoying Gagam style song is played everywhere, but just think, within a year no one will remember him and he’ll be replaced by some one equally stupid.

Which goes to the route of this society, how does an individual find pleasure in someone else’s misfortune, how did we become so uncaring? One just has to look at the television shows, they are so many just about judging the “contestants” and saying that they’re not good enough. First of all, who the hell are they to judge you? And second of all, what kind of sick person gets their jollies out of seeing that?

We live in a type of bubblegum nation, where just like bubblegum the flavour is gone within 5 seconds. Nothing is enduring the test of time anymore, it has become so bad that I have to resort to watching re-runs of old shows and movies from 10 years ago, do you think anyone will even remember any of the movies that come out now in ten years??

It mostly boils down to a few social and economic factors such as; education, wealth and the area in which you reside, but most importantly it boils down to the opportunities you have or lack thereof. People who are educated will tend to see through the obvious manipulation of so called reality shows, but there is an amount of people that believe in order to get ahead in life they must endure ridicule.

This is simply untrue, no one should have to put up with ridicule, if we are so evolved why can’t we eradicate bullying? Because put quite simply, that’s what it is.

How much wealth a person has goes a long way into explaining their viewing habits. Many of the shows around could be put into one column- aspirational, because let’s face it, in times of financial austerity people still want to believe they could have what they see on the screen, they even believe that with a little hard work they can achieve this. But the sad fact is that many of you can’t!

I personally find shows like The Hills or Gossip Girl to be extremely insulting! They are just a bunch of bored spoilt rich kids and these shows are just flaunting all their privileges in the faces of ordinary stiffs, and they have the audacity to say they actually work for it, give me a break! The reason they have all of these toys is because they come from rich and probably corrupt families, because let’s face it, they only reason they probably accumulated all this wealth is because they screwed someone over.

In many cases you will be influenced by what is around you, if people all watch a certain show, you may watch that same show just to fit in, or if people behave in a certain way, you may also behave that way because it is the social norm. Social norm is just another word for peer pressure, and like peer pressure people should avoid the temptation of being caught up in it.

What I find bewildering about this society, is how even the most educated of us can become so easily distracted. Just think of this year where there have been such scandals such as the Libor rigging, all round banking failure, we are going to have to suffer 5 more years of austerity and not to forget the erosion of our basic liberties, but put on a stupid boat show and host the Olympics, and all off a sudden everyone forgets!

People are always telling me that we will benefit from the Olympics and that it will put the UK on the map, I tell you this, if they didn’t know where the UK was before, why would we want to associate with them? And hosting the games doesn’t benefit us, all it’s doing is taking away funding from actual institutions that can be helpful for the public like; NHS, education and provide real jobs, not just jobs for the month of the games and that’s it.

The government is doing everything it can do to distract and dumb down society, from the type of media they are constantly exposed to, to the type of education they get. They’ve already started to make sure that if you come from a poor background you’ll most likely stay that way by making it almost impossible to get into higher education. Whereas in my day it was 2 and a half thousand a year, now it has jumped to 10 thousand a year! Where are the outraged people?! And I answer, probably of looking at the sparkly fireworks or getting pissed of their heads while there future is being pissed away to buy a baby carriage for Kate!

Here’s to the future, where worse is still to come!! Has everyone forgotten about CLIMATE CHANGE?