Serie A Preview

These are dark times for Italy's once-mighty Serie A. Not only has the league lost its billing as one of Europe's best 3 leagues, it has also lost one of its four Champions League spots - Germany now has 4 Champions League spots up for grabs.

This despite Italy providing 4 Champions League winners with the last one being Jose Mourinho's Internazionale in 2010.

Inter had an absolute shocker last season

Indeed, Inter's decline since that memorable night in Madrid epitomizes the decline of Italian football in the last 3 years, fuelled by the economic and political turmoil in Italy. Last season, under inexperienced coach, Andrea Stramaccioni, they finished completely out of Europe in 9th place with 16 losses - the most in its history in one season.

Walter Mazzarri has a big job ahead of him

Walter Mazzarri is charged with returning Inter back to where it belongs - at the top of Italian football and challenging for the Scudetto. At the very least, Mazarri must return Inter back into the Champions League where it belongs.

His track record over the last 4 years at Napoli suggests that he might very well be the right man for the blue half of Milan but owner, Massimo Moratti has had to tighten strings at Inter in recent times and the now-former Italian giants are very much the paupers at the table.    

Why me?

Mind you, AC Milan are doing it just as tough although they have managed to convince Mario Balotelli to part with Manchester and return to Italy to play for his former club's biggest rivals. Balotelli made some difference to the Rossoneri as their strong finish to the season salvaged a Champions League spot in dramatic fashion - they ousted Fiorentina on the final day of the season.

Massimilliano Allegri does have some good talent under his helm, i.e. El Shaarawy and Robinho, but the rest of the team is not quite championship material - certainly when compared to the likes of Juventus.

More of this come May?

Speaking of Juventus and championship material, those two go hand-in-hand and probably will this season. With Antonio Conte at the helm for the full season barring any further match-fixing dramas, the Old Lady of Turin should be expected to continue their recent dominance of Italian football.

Indeed, they - and Napoli - seem to be the only team that anyone outside Italy wants to play for; Carlos Tevez joined in the summer from Manchester City.

Perhaps, the only good thing about the decline in Italian club football is the fact that only three clubs have foreign managers - contrast that with the Premier League with only 3 local managers. One of those clubs is Napoli, who have big ambitions to challenge Juventus for the Scudetto (the others are Roma and Lazio).

Can Rafa do better this time round with an Italian club?

The club from the south of Italy have finally emerged from Maradona's shadow to become a force on their own right and have appointed manager, Rafael Benitez, fresh from his successful spell as reluctant caretaker manager at Chelsea, to oversee a new era for one of Italy's best loved clubs.

Benitez has brought in some familiar faces from Spanish football, e.g. Pepe Reina from Liverpool and Gonzalo Higuain from Real Madrid. With Slovakian playmaker, Marek Hamsik, pulling the strings, Napoli will probably again be Juventus' strongest competitors domestically - and possibly Italy's next best hope in Europe.

Southampton fans hope to see lots of this this season

Other than that, there hasn't been much joy to talk about in the build up to the new Serie A season - a bit sad really but understandable particularly when you consider that Roma's best striker has been sold to Southampton of all clubs just because they have more money than one of Italy's best supported clubs.

Nevertheless, this is the Serie A we're talking about, historically and traditionally one of the world's most followed and loved leagues and expect the fans to continue to be passionate about the football especially when there's a derby involved - there's 5 of them this year in Genoa, Milan, Turin, Rome and Verona.

Racist chants overshadowed last weekend's Supercoppa Italia 

As in Spain, football season can't come sooner with so much economic and political uncertainty for many Italians.

Sassulo Calcio make their Serie A debut this season

Plus there's plenty to look forward to for the fans of the newly promoted clubs. Livorno return to Serie A after 4 seasons while US Sassulo Calcio from the Emilia Romagna region make their debut in Serie A this season after being promoted as champions - the odds of staying up are quite heavily stacked against them but expect fans to turn up to their little stadium in Modena when the likes of Juventus and Milan come to town.

Hellas are back in the top flight

Then there's Hellas Verona, the subject of Tim Parks' wonderful book about the trials and tribulations of following the Veneto club. Hellas are back in Serie A after 11 years away and having to witness rival club, Chievo steal all the limelight as the underdog in the big league. Alas, they have their chance to express their frustration in the first derby between the two in 12 years.

So Salut to a new Serie A season - and let's hope we don't see any of the racism that has dogged the league last season but that we see a bit of a revival for Italian football.

My tips -
1.Juventus
2.Napoli
3.Internazionale
4.Milan
5.Roma
6.Udinese
7.Fiorentina
8.Lazio
9.Sampdoria
10.Catania
11.Cagliari
12.Chievo
13.Parma
14.Bologna
15.Torino
16.Genoa
17.Verona
18.Atalanta
19.Sassulo
20.Livorno

New club, new haircut, new start for Carlos Tevez - shame the weather's the same in Torino

Player to Watch - Carlos Tevez. He's finally got his ticket out of Manchester so it'll be interesting to see how Tevez goes for the first time on the continent. It will be less physical than the Premier League and more technical which might suit Tevez to a tee.