What a tool.

 

Mutu:
"Over here they appreciate me. You (Italians) only revere Brazilians and Argentines. In Italy, if you're from the East it's a different story."

Ever heard of Pavel Nedved?

Good riddance.

 

i dont know what you guys are talking about but mutu hit the nail right on the head.

 

that being with regards to the amount of calls the referees make.

 

Yeah, the refs are ****ing morons in Italy.

 

I prefer the British attitude. Football's a game for men.

"Then the spectators over here are great - crowds of 40,000 or 50,000 people who support you and never whistle at you. It's not like that in Italy.

Nice one Mutu, mirrors my thoughts exactly....mind you, he's bound to say all that, why would anyone slate the league they're playing in.

 

Spot on about the interruptions of the game...

 

well, italy made him what he is today.

sad hearing things like that....maybe his head is a little too big these days.

only tossers speak out like that....not professional at all!

 

Spitting in the previous dish. Classic.

 

i expect more of the same, when he leaves epl....
"the refs are racist....the player spit on me cuase im from eastern europe"


mutu is a great player but as a person i dont think much of him....

dipped on parma after becoming capt..within days of signing for chealsea announces he wants barca....i mean wtf...?

 

I suppose he's right on the fouls and freekicks count, but what i don't think he's taking into account is that there are a lot of tactical fouls in Italy.

Anyways, i agree with the sentiment that there's no need for him to criticise Serie A. It serves no purpose other than to make Mutu look like an ungrateful jerk.

 

an interesting thing about being from eastern europe. shevchenko complained about the treatment he got not from the fans or the players, but from the establishment. he had complained about being treated like a second class citizen and said that when he talked to zorro boban about it he said 'thats the way it is here.'

 

I'm a bit intrigued.

First, let me say that I don't think Mutu is being fair about Italian fans treating Brazilians and Argies better – after all this is a league that embraced and nurtured players like Boniek, Mihajlovic, Weah and Nedved. Actually I believe his comments reveal his own resentment towards Brazilian and Argentinian players who played with him. Maybe Mutu resented Adriano's success and felt like he (Mutu) deserved more praise than the Brazuca? Maybe he felt like this regarding Crespo? Who knows? That certainly seems to have bothered him.

Of course, if even Shevchenko feels "like a second class citizen", maybe it's a more serious problem than we realize. I mean... if stars like Mutu and Sheva feel mistreated, I wonder how all the less-successful eastern-european players from smaller clubs are treated? :mute:

But that's not what called my attention.

well, italy made him what he is today.

I see this being said over and over again, how he's ungrateful to criticize Serie A coz that's where he became a star. Well, would his words be more acceptable if he hadn't done well in the Serie A, or if Italy hadn't 'made him what he is today'?

Let's say it was Henry criticizing Serie A, someone who built his name outside of Serie A. Would such criticism be more acceptable coming from Henry, than from a player who actually shone in Italy? I doubt it. Such criticism would most probably be dismissed as "excuses for his failure".

Spitting in the previous dish. Classic.

But... would his criticism carry any more weight if he hadn't played in Serie A at all? No, I don't think so. So if a player who has played in a given league can't criticize that league because that would be "spitting on the dish where he ate"... and a player who hasn't played in that league clearly is not qualified to criticize... who, then, would be qualified to criticize?


I totally understand how fans of Serie A are upset about Mutu's statements. But disqualifying his words based on the fact that he built his reputation in Italy doesn't make any sense. If anything, his experience and success in Italian football adds weight to his words.

Mind you, none of that necessarily means he's right. Just something to think about. Maybe Mutu's words should be received less defensively, and accepted as constructive criticism?

 

No one questions his right nor his 'qualifications' to criticise Serie A, but his comments do convey ingratitude to the league in which he rose to prominence and where he honed his skills as a football player. Serie A clubs such as Inter, Hellas Verona and Parma gave him the opportunity to play football and compete at a high level, and perhaps i'm wrong in thinking that deserves some recognition rather than this sort of bitter criticism.

And while Sheva and Mutu may moan about being mistreated and feeling like second class citizens, they certainly aren't paid second class wages.

 

No one questions his right nor his 'qualifications' to criticise Serie A, but his comments do convey ingratitude to the league in which he rose to prominence and where he honed his skills as a football player.

Oh, absolutely...

And while Sheva and Mutu may moan about being mistreated and feeling like second class citizens, they certainly aren't paid second class wages.

...which doesn't mean their complaints are without merits.

Of course, Mutu owes a lot to Italian football. And of course, he was well paid there. But that doesn't take away the legitimacy of his opinions, does it? If he feels eastern europeans are discriminated... and if other high-profile eastern european players share that impression... isn't that a relevant issue?

I can see how fans might take offense at Mutu's words... but is it reasonable to simply dismiss everything he said by labeling him "ungrateful"?

 

im pretty sure sheva was mostly referring to the non-eu rule. he referred to eastern europeans but then eastern europe wasnt part of the eu at that point while much of it still isnt. so his comments are not the same as mutus so they shouldnt be clumped in together.

 

What did Sheva actually say?

I've never heard anything about this.

 

he said easterners were treated as second class citizens.

 

There has been a fair share of Eastern European players in the Serie A that failed to 'make the cut' IMO (so to speak) i.e. Omari Tetradze, Tomic, Alenichev, Robert Jarni (played much better in La Liga), Mirkovic and namely...Hristo Stoichkov. Vladimir Jugovic was a fan favorite at Lazio (1st stint) and then Juve...his career was crap afterwards at Inter. Milan Rapaic was a quite a prospect in his early Perugia days...but his career went dwindling down...not sure what he accomplished in Turkey, though.

But yeah, once they reach superstardom Sheva and Mutu style, they obviously won't be paid and treated as 2nd class citizens, so I don't really understand what it is they're trying to convey here.

 

It's impossible to know what kind of bias Mutu and other Eastern Europeans feel subjected to in calcio. There could be stuff we don't know anything about.

Suffice to say that the Eastern Europeans who really make the grade are as reverred as the Brazilians and Argies in my view. Just like the foreigners who do not perform are in genereal all subjected to abuse. No matter where they're from.

The only thing is that it takes more time for Eastern Euroepan to break through because of less exposure and marketing on the International level. That was always so. By the same token- Danes like Tomasson and Laursen don't have an entirely fair shot in the comp. for starting places when pitted against more famous names with global appeal. It's always like that.

Another thing is that this is a highly political comment, on the eve of a big game. A significance that isn't lost on the reporters either. Reporters who will also direct Mutu's comment in an antagonistic direction, and enable themselves to rid the interview of the mitigating passages Mutu might have also uttered.
We see that SO often. When a player arrives to a new country/league- then everything is simply splendid in the new team, and there's fault finding about the old. It goes the other way when players arrive in Italy/Spain as well.

But Mutu's comments about the number of stops there are to games in Italy are in my opinion dead on. Just like it's obvious that the atmosphere in the PL stadiums is, on average, quite a bit more tempting than that of serieA. That's a matter of demographics and the PL sides having been able to invest more money in the fascilities more than anything else.

Luigi: Let us not forget that Milan found themselves with too many non-EU players to utilize under the regulations of that time, and Sheva suddenly felt compelled to air his consternation about being second class. Galliani had, I'm sure, NOTHING to do with the timing. That- which prompted the infamous "Nakata Gate".

Mutu can just be happy that he's a full international having played enough to warrant his work permit. It's not like the English regulations on the subject are any less effective in blocking out players.

 

i wasnt criticizing sheva for it. i think all these rules surrounding the eu are ridiculous and they do treat some europeans as second class. sheva was entirely in the right whether it was prompted by other factors or not.

 

Chelsea sensation Adrian Mutu has taken a swipe at Italian football ahead of his return to the peninsula to face Lazio in a vital Champions League encounter on Tuesday.

The 24-year-old Romanian striker has been scoring goals for fun since arriving at Stamford Bridge for just under 16 million pounds in the summer, so it is no surprise

"I made the right choice (coming to England), even though I miss Parma. But I certainly don't miss the Serie A," Mutu told Italian sports daily Controcampo.

"In England the referees stop the game for 10 to 12 fouls per match. In Italy, (that number is) 60. I prefer the British attitude. Football's a game for men.

"Then the spectators over here are great - crowds of 40,000 or 50,000 people who support you and never whistle at you. It's not like that in Italy.

"Over here they appreciate me. You (Italians) only revere Brazilians and Argentines. In Italy, if you're from the East it's a different story."
------------------------------------------------------------------------

I can't believe he actually said this. How ignorant to say that in Italy the games stop 60 times or what ever. That's crazy, look at Chievo-Inter there weren't too much of whisling there.

I'm really dissapointed

He is free to give his opinion.
And he is right saying that about Brazilians and Argentines. It seems that you are not really important in Italy or Spain if you are not Brazilian, Argentine or a national player.
I understand that his words can be offensives for Italian fans, but let´s be serious, he is free to prefer England to Italy or Spain.

 

Guys, no one here even put in question the article itself? Are you taking it as it is? Come on, you make so much effort to argue and don't even think that the journalist who wrote that article might have "played" with the words Mutu said?

Don't you guys think that this article belongs to the "psychological battle" prior to any important games, such as Lazio VS Chelsea?


Let me clarify what Mutu said:

- "I like Chelsea, although I miss Parma"
- "In England, the crowd and the referee are better because here they leave the game flow, without making too many interruptions, which is more suited to my style. this is a point I don't miss in Serie A"
- Some players, like Argentinians and Brazilians, get more fame in Italy"


now, considering the above sentences, I don't think anyone can be mad or insult Adrian (as some did here without questioning the article. Shame on you).

You can only accept his opinions and maybe argue the last point.


Yes, in Serie A there are Sheva, Nedvev, Mihaijlovic and there were Mutu, Boniek, Boban, etc. But they were extremely talented and couldn't be ingnored.

Moreover, in Italy you have plenty of Argentinians and Brazilians who are average, but they're still more mediatized and more sought after by the teams than players from other regions of the world (not only Eastern Europeans).

If you don't believe me, look what Dominique Antognoni had to say for Football Italia on October 7, 2002:

"

The best and the rest

Monday 7 October, 2002

Italian based reporter Dominque Antognoni highlights which players are on
a high and a low after the latest Serie A games.

The best

Shunsuke Nakamura (Reggina)
After all that was written about him this summer when he joined provincial
Reggina, we really wanted to see whether the words of greatness which
accompanied him were true. The Japanese star=92s amazing free-kick against
Brescia in the 2-2 draw has convinced many that he is a potential great.
In many ways his quality and elegance seems wasted on his mediocre
teammates. But rememeber that Hidetoshi Nakata made his mark in Italy with
Perugia before going on to win the Scudetto at Roma.



Adrian Mutu (Parma)
If his name was Mutulinho and he played for an Italian giant, he would be all over the front pages. The Romanian (pictured) has got all the skills that we haven't seen in Italy for some time. He runs, dribbles, shoots and scores, everything done in the most splendid manner. He has become a more aggressive player but after spells at Inter and Verona, he is developing
into a major force.

Alberto Fontana (Inter)
It says something for your performance when you win 4-1 at Piacenza but
your goalkeeper is the man of the match. Despite his 35-years-of-age,
Fontana threw himself from one corner of the goal to another. If only
there were a few more younger =91keepers coming through with his ability.
The Inter man was needed due to Francesco Toldo=92s injury and made his
presence felt with four outstanding saves.

The rest=85

Fabio Galante (Torino)
We should shame the whole of the Torino side after their utterly
unacceptable performance against Milan. But we have chosen Fabio because
he should have concentrated more on stopping hat-trick man Inzaghi, rather
than having his mind on what he would be wearing later that evening in the
city of Milan. His smile in the mixed zone after the game was also
unsettling, as if Torino had won 6-0 rather than the reverse.

Oliver Bierhoff (Chievo)
He had looked like an old man with a bad back before his surprise goal
against Lazio in Week 1. But chiefs at Monaco and even Milan know that
they made the right decision to release the player. He had to watch from
the bench on Sunday, a position that he might have to get used to. It will
be an interesting battle between himself and his countryman Carsten
Jancker, at Udinese, to see who is the worst striker of the season.

Stephane Dalmat (Inter)
On Wednesday night he must have broken all the records for the most passes
misplaced against Lyon. This is not a good time for Dalmat who was only
given nine minutes on Sunday at Piacenza. Maybe winning the faith of Coach
Hector Cuper has done him some harm. We preferred it when he was a bit
part figure in games, coming off the bench to inspire. He=92s gone off the
boil. "


I guess you understand that by "Mutulinho", Mr. Antognoni mean that if Mutu were Brazilian.


As on why some players are more wanted by others just because they belong to a certain country, that's another story. It has nothing to do with Mutu being jealous of Brazilians (Adriano is one of his best friends and he's becoming a close friend of Crespo at Chelsea).


Finally, I would like to close by saying that Contra, one of the best Right Backs in 2001, had some problems signing for Milan because he was a non-EU player. Now, he said the following thing: "This non-EU law is very stupid. What's the difference if in an Italian team there are 10 Romanians or 10 Argentinians? They're still not Italians!". I'm sure everybody agrees that it is a stupid law and I'm sure you can trace this law also (not entirely) to the fact that some players are more mediatized just because they come from certain countries.

 

"Mutulinho"... :howler: good one.

And I agree the non-EU rule is silly. More: it's hypocritical. Really... when you have all these brasilians with portuguese passports, argentines with italian and spanish passports, africans with french and dutch passports... it becomes a pointless joke. It doesn't truly reserve space for each country's domestic talent: it's just a nuisance, and the clubs get around it with astonishing ease.

But what's the alternative? Simply removing the limitations doesn't sound like a very good solution.

 

Good point Lupi!

I can't believe how Mutu's words were twisted around to make him look like such an evil guy....It must be because of the feud he had with Mihaijlovic?? I don't know, I am just trying to understand all this resentment towards him.

All he did was praise the qualitiy of English football and discipline of fans, and made a comparisson with Italian football.. He never "dissed" Italian football, nor Italian style. He is the most authentic Italian-style player you'll see and he is very greatful of Serie A for what it has made him! And now he willprobably get booed by Italian fans because of a stupid article, and the way it was twisted around...

In one Romanian article (in Gazeta Sporturilor) he even mentions that he still keeps in close contact with his X-teamates from Parma.
And when he saw the highlights of Adriano fall to the ground in agony (when he got injured 2 weeks ago) he stated that

"it was like a dagger going through my heart"

- he was worried about his friend because he knew right away that it was a serious injury...

SO Chill out guys, Mutu is a nice, sensible person and doesn't deserve all this immature crap.