Serie A findings Round 10 – What we learned from this week’s fixtures (Part 1)
Another round of enthralling football gone with plenty to talk about – more goals, more records broken and even more controversy.
SS Lazio’s lead at the top was cut short to just two points as AS Roma emerged victorious in Derby della Capitale. Marco Borriello and Mirko Vucinic scored two penalties to land three precious points for the Gilarossi. AC Milan and Juventus
also registered victories. Rossoneri were given a scare by a determined Bari outfit while Juventus coasted to victory over a ten men Cesena. Inter Milan continued to misfire as they were held to a 1 – 1 draw at San Siro by a modest Brescia side.
This weekend’s fixtures left us with plenty to talk about
Relegation fight will be cut-throat
The competitiveness of this year’s Serie A has been truly refreshing. Italian game now mounts a serious challenge for the ‘most competitive league’ title and justly so. A lowly Brescia outfit fought admirably against reigning champions
Inter Milan while Bari also gave stern resistance to AC Milan.
AS things stand, the bottom three teams of the league (Parma, Cesena and Bari) all have 8 points from 10 games. To make things even more interesting, 12th placed Cagliari is just 3 points above the bottom placed
Bari. A single victory or a loss can turn things around for most teams in the bottom half of the league.
It’s still too early into the season to pass any judgement but if the early season competition is anything to go by, the relegation struggle towards the end of the season would truly be an enthralling affair.
Inter lose Walter Samuel to injury
While Inter could only manage a draw against Brescia Calcio at San Siro, the concern for dropped points would be secondary as Walter Samuel has been ruled out of action for at least eight months. The player has damaged his cruciate knee
ligaments after hyper-extending his knee during the game.
Samuel’s injury blow is very much likely to break the Nerazzuri season. Now as experts would like to put it; ‘The wall’ has been broken down. Under Jose Mourinho, Samuel was arguably the best centre back in the world last season and formed
an impregnable central defensive partnership with equal imposing Lucio. While Lucio ran into every tackle and loose ball, he was ably covered by an imperious Samuel. Few forwards, if any, found a way past the Argentine colossus.
In Serie A, Benitez might use Ivan Cordoba or Cristian Chivu in the central role. But, on continental front, Samuel’s steel would be severely missed. The absence of Argentine for such a lengthy period is likely to force Nerazzuri into
winter transfer market. Andrea Ranocchia, co-owned by Inter and Genoa, will be the likely target for President Massimo Moratti.
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