The Top 6 Keep This Week Interesting

Inter, Sampdoria, Juventus, Palermo, Fiorentina and AC Milan all won this weekend to raise the stakes for the mid-week matches: Genoa v. Fiorentina, Napoli v. AC Milan, Juventus v. Sampdoria, and Inter V. Palermo (29th).  Clear your schedule Wednesday and Thursday for some great calcio.

 

AC Milan Does Their 180

Gareth wrote about AC Milan’s impressive victory at Barcelona in the Champions League last week, but calcio fans were waiting to see if their sudden European success could translate into Serie A wins.  For the first 80 minutes of their match against Chievo, it looked like Leonardo would return to the hot seat, but that was before Alessandro Nesta netted two goals before the final whistle blew.  They will try and continue their success at Napoli on Wednesday.

 

Bari Has the Best Defense in Serie A – But No Offense

With a 2-0 win over Lazio, the Bari defense has allowed five goals on nine matches, the fewest in Serie A.  However, they have scored only 10 goals, and with Arsenal rumored to be scouting their defense for a possible winter transfer, they had better hope to either keep their defense intact or get more goals from Kutuzov, Alvarez, or other.

The City of Rome Continues Losing Streak

Lazio loses 2-0 to Bari, and has not won a match in Serie A since August.  Roma lost to Livorno 1-0, a club at the bottom of the table and playing with 10 men from the 65th minute on.  It was their 5th point in their last five matches.  Both clubs face teams from the bottom half of the table on Wednesday in golden opportunities to gain some points.

A Manager Change Can Only Fix So Much

New Bologna manager Franco Colomba led his squad to an ugly 4-1 loss in his first match, but Serse Cosmi led his new Livorno club to an upset of AS Roma.  So far this season, Cosmi Claudio Ranieri (Roma), and Walter Mazzarri (Napoli) have won their debuts while Colomba and Antonio Conte (Atalanta) have lost their first match with their new teams.  Through nine matches, five managers have been sacked and don’t be surprise if we see a few more get fired in the next few weeks.