Horncastle's Heaven and Hell: Pogba can be Juve's trequartista, and Milan are on the up
James Horncastle returns with a Heaven and Hell feature forMatchday 22. We begin with Heaven, the place where Napoli deserve to be. And we will continue with Limbo, awaiting for Rudi Garcia's situation to be solved
HEAVEN
Milan
Never has a choreography been so prophetic. Before kick off Milan’s Curva Sud unfurled a huge depiction of one of the great derby moments: Mark Hateley out-jumping Fulvio Collovati to head in the goal that clinched a first win in six years in the Madonnina for his club back in 1984. “Sovrastarli” read the accompanying banner. “Tower over them.” Inter hadn’t conceded a header all season.
Then Alex emulated Hateley.
Milan are on the up. There were good performances all over the pitch here. Alex was imperious at the back. Montolivo’s renaissance continues. Juraj Kucka’s driving runs sent Inter in tilt. Carlos Bacca got his 11th goal of the season, a present on his daughter’s birthday. Giacomo Bonaventura left Jeison Murillo on his backside and returned to the top of the assist charts in Serie A as he set up M’Baye Niang for the winner.
Sinisa Mihajlovic promised that Milan would take their revenge in the second half of the season. They’ve beaten Fiorentina, deserved more than a draw away to Roma and now have their biggest win in the derby in almost five years. Barbara Berlusconi tried to manage expectation last week by claiming the Europa League is Milan’s objective. They’ve got to be realistic. But the Champions League is now only six points away and Fiorentina and Inter are faltering.
Silvio Berlusconi
After a stalemate with Atalanta at San Siro in November, Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi knocked on the away team’s dressing room door, entered and rather pointedly complimented the visitors. Eyebrows hadn’t raised this much at the Meazza since the days of Ancelotti.
“I told him not to get the wrong dressing room next time,” Sinisa Mihajlovic wryly observed following Milan’s next home game: an impressive 4-1 win against former club Sampdoria. Berlusconi wasn’t in attendance that evening. He hasn’t been since. Until last night and guess what? He got the right dressing room this time. “I couldn’t not compliment the lads,” he said.
The Return of the Pharaoh Stephan El Shaarawy claims he learned the skill from Zlatan and there are worse ways to make a debut than with a volleyed backheel. It was the goal of the weekend in Serie A. Loaded with too much expectation too soon after scoring 16 times before Christmas in 2012, the instability at Milan, a series of injuries and just being a sensitive soul impacted on El Shaarawy. An exciting talent, it’s nice to see him back, but caution is advisable.Roma
Their first win of 2016. The first of Luciano Spalletti’s second spell too. Alright, it was only Frosinone, a team without a win in a couple of months and one of the worst defences we’ve every seen in Serie A - 48 goals conceded, an average of 2.1 per game.
But the signs were encouraging for Roma. Radja Nainggolan scored for the second time in three games under Spalletti in a Simone Perrotta-like role. The new signings combined to put the team back in front. Ervin Zukanovic crossed for El Shaarawy’s goal.
Captain Francesco Totti then came off the bench and released Miralem Pjanic for his 10th of the season. The first and last Roma goals were classic examples of Spalletti football. Issues remain: a better team than Frosinone would have got something out of this game. Mo Salah and Edin Dzeko continue to struggle. But with Fiorentina and Inter dropping points, the big picture is that Roma recovered precious ground for the third and final Champions League slot.
Napoli
A sixth win in a row. Their best run since 1988. The sixth time they have scored five this season. Napoli have got 50 points and 50 goals in Serie A. Another test of their character, they responded emphatically to almost to temporarily going behind to Juventus in the standings and to Empoli at the San Paolo. Lorenzo Insigne got them back into the game. His cross for Gonzalo Higuain’s 22nd league goal of the season was his fifth assist in his last five appearances. Il Magnifico then got amongst the goals himself with a fine free-kick. We need to petition owner Aurelio De Laurentiis to dust off Maradona’s old No.10 shirt and give it to him. Insigne has now combined for 19 goals this season.
InnaMORATA
A week ago, Alvaro Morata’s drought stretched to 20 games. Then came the Ketchup effect. After tapping on the bottle since October 4, it finally splurged. He has now scored four in four days and with Mario Mandzukic out injured they couldn’t be more timely with the Champions League tie against Bayern Munich looming on the horizon.
Paul Pogba
Juventus were wrong to give him the No.10 shirt. He doesn’t have the skill for it, right? Oh, please. This would have completed a doppietta. His assist for Alex Sandro was also his fifth of the season. 2016 is here year. Euro 2016 will be his tournament. — Marco Messina (@Marcocalcio22) 31 Gennaio 2016 Juventus The Old Lady’s record after the opening 10 league games: 12 points. Her record in the next 12 league games: 36 points. Club record for consecutive wins: Matched.
German Denis
On Saturday he bid an emotional farewell to Atalanta. Tearful in the tunnel before the Sassuolo game, Denis’ parting gift was a goal in a 1-1 draw. It was his 56th in Serie A for Atalanta. He returns to Argentina third on their all-time top scorers list behind Doni and Basetto. No foreign player has ever been as prolific for Atalanta as Denis. He choked up in his post-game interview then at the farewell party thrown for him by the ultras. A hat-trick against Inter was his best memory in an Atalanta shirt. However, mine remains his celebration with his son, a ball-boy, behind the goal. Ciao El Tanque!
Matteo Mancosu
There was some bewilderment when Carpi froze out and let Marco Borriello go. He was their top scorer and assist provider, a consummate professional and an instant fan favourite. But Fabrizio Castori wanted a striker better suited to the style that got Carpi promoted and identified Matteo Mancosu as the perfect fit. Two goals in three games justifies a gutsy decision. Mancosu rescued a draw for Carpi against Palermo. They’re unbeaten in 2016, continue to pick up points and are creeping up behind Samp with all the ominousness of the grim reaper.
HELL
Roberto Mancini
Lost the derby. Lost his cool. Gave the middle finger to Milan fans [apologising via Twitter] and lashed out at the presenter of Mediaset Premium’s post-game show Mikaela Calcagno. True the question asked was a silly one but Mancini’s answer did him no favours.
Mauro Icardi
“I’m 50 and I would have scored that,” Mancini presumably thought as Inter’s captain, left out of the starting line up, came on and missed a penalty that would have made it 1-1 in the Madonnina.
Inter
The defeat to Lazio before Christmas appears to have destabilised Inter. All is not well. Prior to that, however, there was always the suspicion that not playing well and not scoring enough would catch up with them if what at the time was the best defence in Italy suffered a loss of form. Inter haven’t kept a clean sheet in their last five league games. In four days, they got beaten by their bitterest rivals Juventus and Milan by an aggregate score of 6-0. Top of the table until 5pm on January 10, they’re now nine points behind Napoli and no longer figure in the Champions League. A resurgent Roma breathing down their necks. Inter are in crisis.
Sampdoria
In midtable when Walter Zenga got the sack at the beginning of November, Samp had a points per game average of 1.41 points and were conceding 1.41 goals per game. Now just one place removed from the drop zone, the former is down to 0.7 and the latter up to 2.2 respectively. Vincenzo Montella has lost seven of 10 games in charge. So much for being an upgrade. But the Little Aeroplane isn’t the problem here. There is too much instability at Samp. A year ago, they let Manolo Gabbiadini go. In the summer Stefano Okaka, Pedro Obiang and Alfred Duncan followed. This winter Ervin Zukanovic, but most worrying of all top scorer Eder have been sold. There are echoes of this time five years ago when Antonio Cassano and Giampaolo Pazzini were offloaded and Samp were relegated. Sentimentality aside, it’s curious Montella took this job considering he got himself fired by Fiorentina for questioning their ambition. You wonder if false promises were made or whether he’d received assurances of a takeover? Because beyond all the tomfoolery, it’s now clearer than ever that owner Massimo Ferrero isn’t to be taken seriously.
Fiorentina
Held 0-0 by Genoa, it’s a cheap shot to draw attention to Nikola Kalinic still being goalless in 2016 while Pepito Rossi scored on his debut for Levante, isn’t it? Thought so. However, although it was the first time a Fiorentina match ended goalless in more than two years, it was also the second time in three games that they haven’t scored. Paulo Sousa is rumoured to be unhappy with how their transfer window has gone so far. Tino Costa, Cristian Tello and Mauro Zarate have all arrived. But only Tello is a first choice and efforts to bring in a centre-back have been frustrated. You get the impression Sousa believes an opportunity is being missed. Only four points from the last 12 available put their Champions League dreams in jeopardy, particularly as Roma awaken from their slumber.
Udinese
A winter of discontent continues to blight Udinese. A three-game losing streak including a 4-0 defeat to Juventus on the afternoon they inaugurated the newly completed Dacia Arena led the club to take punitive action. The players have been living at the training ground and met with 50 ultras last week. On Sunday, they stopped the rot, drawing with Lazio, but there were ugly scenes when teammates Badu and Cyril Thereau got into heated argument. One hopes it is Much Badu About Nothing. Not least because Udinese have done good business this window:
Emil Halfredsson and Ryder Matos both look like smart signings.
Verona
Becoming hard to beat under Gigi Delneri, but winning gets no easier. Verona are still without a victory in Serie A this season.
