Funnily enough, when we played NApoli last Wednesday he fluffed an early opportunity and I said to my brother that I didn't understand how he'd got 25 goals in Serie A last season because whenever I've seen him he looks fairly clumsy, his touch is poor and he doesn't seem particularly strong or quick. But I guess I must have caught him on his bad days
3rd match Inter-Roma 0-0 Cagliari-Novara 2-1 (Ribeiro, Larrivey, Morimoto) Atalanta-Palermo 1-0 (Denis) Catania-Cesena 1-0 (Maxi Lopez) Bologna-Lecce 0-2 (Giacomazzi, Grossmuller) Lazio-Genoa 1-2 (Sculli, Palacio, Kucka) Siena-Juventus 0-1 (Matri) Parma-Chievo 2-1 (Giovinco, Paloschi, Giovinco) Udinese-Fiorentina 2-0 (Di Natale, Isla) Napoli-Milan 3-1 (Aquilani, Cavani, Cavani, Cavani) Napoli, Juventus, Cagliari, Udinese 6 Genoa Catania 4 Lecce Fiorentina Parma 3 Inter Lazio Novara Chievo Milan Roma Siena 1 Cesena Bologna 0 Atalanta -2 Top scorers Cavani, Giovinco 3
That Inter match was dire. Napoli are looking very impressive this season. A good three points for Juve as well.
Gasperini must be in deep, deep trouble now. Beaten 3-1 away to newly-promoted Novara tonight. Horrific result for Internazionale, but that's what they get for appointing a manager who I feel is well out of his depth. Should stick to relegation battles and mid-table mediocrity.
And Gasperini has been sacked was always going to happen after last nights result. http://www.football-italia.net/sep21k.html
I think Luciano Spalletti could be a good choice to return to Italy. He's done well in St Petersburg. I see Ranieri is linked with the job but after his failings at Roma towards the end of his spell there, is it right to hire another relatively mediocre manager? Either the aforementioned Spalletti or even Ancelotti would be good appointments for me.
I was stunned to find out about the Inter result against Novara earlier today, no surprise to see Gasperini sacked, Moratti never should have hired him in the first place, he was an easy and cheap option and his gamble has backfired big time. Im beginning to wonder more and more whether Benitez was right about Inter needing new players, i watched nearly the whole game against Roma last week, criticise Gasperini all you want, some of Inter's players have two big problems. The first is that they are getting older, the spine of Inter's team is over 30, hence there is only one way down, Lucio and Samuel are 33, Cambiasso is 31, Stankovic is 33 i think? Millito and Forlan are both 32, even their back ups like Cordoba (36), Chivu (31). The second and much more pressing issue imo is the players have lost their hunger and appetite to go on and continue the success from Madrid merely 16 months ago. Some of them seem to have put the cue on the proverbial rack since the victory over Bayern, Cesar dissapointed me last season and he hasnt looked too convincing this season so far either, Sneidjer could have been forgiven last season for having a below par year given the crazy amount of games he had in 09/10 alongside the WC Final run with Holland. Yet according to sources in Italy, so far this season he has failed to rediscover that spark of 09/10. Moratti's next coaching appointment is vital, they simply have to get it right.
4th match Novara-Inter 3-1 (Meggiorini, Rigoni, Cambiasso, Rigoni) Cesena-Lazio 1-2 (Mutu, Hernanes, Klose) Chievo-Napoli 1-0 (Moscardelli) Fiorentina-Parma 3-0 (Jovetic, Cerci, Jovetic) Genoa-Catania 3-0 (Palacio, Palacio, Constant) Lecce-Atalanta 1-2 (Denis, Mesbah, Denis) Juventus-Bologna 1-1 (Vucinic, Portanova) Milan-Udinese 1-1 (Di Natale, El Shaarawi) Palermo-Cagliari 3-2 (Zahavi, Bertolo, Miccoli, Conti, Nainggolan) Roma-Siena 1-1 (Osvaldo, Vitiello) Genoa, Juve, Udinese 7 Napoli, Fiorentina, Palermo, Cagliari 6 Novara, Lazio, Chievo, Catania 4 Lecce, Parma 3 Milan, Roma, Siena 2 Inter, Atalanta 1 Cesena 0 Top Scorers Cavani, Denis, Di Natale, Miccoli, Palacio, Giovinco 3
Not a good start to the season for Milan but for me all down to injuries so far. After Pato was injured in the game last night we had 12 players out injured and no fit strikers.
Agreed with boban, there is clearly a mistake of milan's medical staff going on, 12 injured is no coincidence
Bologna-Inter 1-3 (Pazzini, Diamanti, Milito, Lucio) Napoli-Fiorentina 0-0 Milan-Cesena 1-0 (Seedorf) Chievo-Genoa 2-1 (Palacio, Pellissier, Moscardelli) Cagliari-Udinese 0-0 Catania-Juventus 1-1 (Bergessio, Krasic) Atalanta-Novara 2-1 (Schelotto, Cigarini, Porcari) Lazio-Palermo 0-0 Siena-Lecce 3-0 (Destro, Calaiò, Calaiò) Parma-Roma 0-1 (Osvaldo) Juventus, Udinese 8 Genoa, Napoli, Fiorentina, Palermo, Chievo, Cagliari 7 Siena, Lazio, Roma, Milan, Catania 5 Atalanta, Novara, Inter 4 Lecce, Parma 3 Bologna 1 Cesena 0 Top Scorers Palacio 4 Cavani, Denis, Di Natale, Miccoli, Giovinco, Milito 3 So far, no team has impressed particularly and the championship looks well balanced
At last we got a win at the weekend with a great goal from Seedorf. Only have 11 players out now but hoping to have Zlatan and Prince back for Juve on Sunday.
Roma-Atalanta 3-1 (Bojan, Osvaldo, Denis, Simplicio) Inter-Napoli 0-3 (Campagnaro, Maggio, Hamsik) Novara-Catania 3-3 (Legrottaglie, Rigoni, Lodi, Morimoto, Jeda, Gomez) Cesena-Chievo 0-0 Fiorentina-Lazio 1-2 (Cerci, Hernanes, Klose) Lecce-Cagliari 0-2 (Biondini, Brivio o.g.) Palermo Siena 2-0 (Migliaccio, Hernandez) Parma-Genoa 3-1 (Giovinco, Giovinco, Morrone, Palacio) Udinese-Bologna 2-0 (Benatia, Di Natale) Juventus-Milan 2-0 (Marchisio, Marchisio) Juventus, Udinese 11 Napoli, Palermo, Cagliari 10 Roma, Lazio, Chievo 8 Fiorentina, Genoa 7 Parma, Catania 6 Novara, Siena, Milan 5 Atalanta, Inter 4 Lecce 3 Cesena, Bologna 1 Top scorers: Giovinco, Palacio 5 Denis, Di Natale 4
3 men or 4 men, Inter's defence still looks completely at sea. The lack of coordination for Napoli's last 2 goals was comical. They were unlucky with the penalty and the red card, but after that they completely lost their discipline and composure.
Was that Bojan's first goal? How's he doing in Italy? Very hard to gauge how good he was whilst at Barca with the service he was getting. Sometimes in a team like that you can't tell if you're underrating somebody because of the skill required to play for Barcelona or overrating him because of the players around him.
2 fortuitous goals they might well have been but Juventus fully merited their win against Milan tonight, saw pretty much the whole game and Juve look a lot sharper this season then last season. I questioned the appointment of Conte as coach, but i have to say he does look like a good motivator and that it maybe what Juve have lacked in recent years. It is an important year for Marchisio at Juve, at 25 he hadnt exactly set the world alight so far in his career but tonight he was excellent imo and his performances merited the two slices of luck he had for his goals. Vidal had an excellent game too in the centre, Juve were by far the better side in midfield and stopped the service to Zlatan, which was key in winning them the game. Napoli put the cleaners through Inter last night, who really are going to be struggling to get into the Champions League with the looks of it this season. Are one or two of Inter's players now beginning to show their age, especially in defence? They also have an issue regarding their back up players, Rannochia has looked dodgy whenever i have seen him, Cordoba is getting old, as is Chivu. Losing Eto'o looks to have affected them up front as well as they arent scoring goals. Nice win for Napoli too after some dropped points in the last few games. Udinese looking like they have coped really well after losing Sanchez, Zapata and Inler, top of the league!
