Football Special Report: Serie A findings Round 9 – What we learned from this week’s fixtures (Part 1)
Serie A this week had some really mouth watering fixtures. Juventus visited San Siro and came back with a surprise win. SS Lazio now deservedly wears the tag of ‘the team to beat’ and Inter eked out a victory yet again. There was plenty to talk about in
this edition of Serie A.
We now look at some talking points and observations that are worth presenting to our worthy leaders.
SS Lazio are Scudetto contenders. Surely!
The balance of power in the Italian capital has been truly turned. While AS Roma was giving Inter Milan sleepless nights with their title chase, SS Lazio was struggling for survival. This season has been a completely different story. Gilarossi look the shadow
of a side that pushed Inter to the brim last season. The hunger and the will to succeed shows all too rarely, while the defence has scored aplenty in a truly uncharacteristic fashion.
SS Lazio is in stark contrast. Aquile are the true surprise package of Serie A. Even the most optimistic of Aquilotti faithful would not have dreamt of such a start to Serie A. The ease with which Hernanes has found his feet has been truly mesmerising. The
Brazilian made his long awaited entry in to the Italian game and has won the hearts in just a handful of appearances. Credit must also be giving to Fernando Muslera in the goal. The player has come a long way following his San Siro humiliation two years back.
Muslera is now putting forward a genuine claim to be tagged world class; such was his performance against UC Palermo this weekend.
On a whole, Lazio are looking Champions material under Eduardo Reja. Even if they don’t win against bigger oppositions, the way Reja is dispatching weaker teams would surely keep the Roman outfit in Scudetto contention until the very end.
AC Milan need Alessandro Nesta and Thiago Silva, all the time
AC Milan’s defensive woes are no secret. Time and time again the need for top class reinforcement has been felt. For some unknown reason, Silvio Berlusconi fails to understand this basic fact. AC Milan had an ideal opportunity in the summer transfer market
to get a top class centre half. They need not have looked far for a candidate; Palermo was selling off their star defender Simone Kjaer; a player who bellies his tender age with his maturity on the pitch, to Bundesliga outfit Wolfsburg. Rossoneri failed to
act.
The Silva-Nesta combination, on their day, is arguably the best in Italy, maybe even Europe. However, one cannot function without the other. Nesta needs the youthful Silva around him while in Nesta’s absence, Silva sorely misses his wisdom. Papastathopoulos
and Yepes are clearly not Milan material, while Onyewu is a forgotten man already. In Silva’s absence, Milan’s defensive woes were highlighted and not for the first time.
The two stars need to play together in all the big matches; against Serie A top dogs Inter, Juventus, Roma and Lazio at the least, for Rossoneri to harbour any hopes of a Scudetto challenge.
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