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Serie A Week 10 Review - Dzeko, Icardi and Immobile keep scoring
Half an hour into Pescara’s game with Atalanta another tremor spread panic. Fearing the worst, some fans upped and left. Aware of the commotion, referee Marco Guida halted the game for three and a half minutes. Cracks even began to appear in the walls. Worried for the safety of everybody involved the ultras protested the decision to restart the game by abandoning the upper tier of the Curva Nord in the second half.
Marco Verratti, the former Pescara midfielder, who was forced to sleep in the family car in the days immediately after a quake devastated Aquila and the surrounding region in 2009 posted a picture on Instagram of some of the damage. “There are no words,” he wrote. But even as another earthquake of even greater magnitude, this one measuring 5.9, struck at 9:18pm, it was on with the show in Serie A.
Milan missed the opportunity to go top of the table, at least for 24 hours, on Tuesday night. Four years since they last found themselves leaders of the pack, Genoa made them wait a little longer with a 3-0 win. Only once, in 1958, have they beaten Milan by a bigger scoreline. Watched in person by Atletico Madrid’s director of sport Andrea Berta, Genoa are a team very much in their image and not just because Cholito Simeone plays for them.
Ivan Juric has made the backline as watertight as some of the boats in the port’s marina. Genoa have leaked just seven goals this season. Only Juventus have a better defence. Opponents know they’re in a battle when they face them and this wasn’t one Genoa were prepared to lose after unexpectedly suffering defeat in the derby on Saturday. They make you play ugly and Milan won’t be the only big name to fall here this season.
Juric may be “Gian Piero Gasperini’s son” but there were moments in this game, take the first goal for example, when his team had as many as five players in Milan’s penalty area, provoking Sky Italia’s co-commentator Lele Adani to draw comparisons with the football of Marcelo Bielsa. After getting Crotone promoted, Juric is establishing himself as one of the coaches to watch in Serie A. Perhaps Berta jotted his name down as one to keep in mind when the time comes to replace Diego Simeone. If Genoa win their game in hand they will go joint fifth, just two points off the Champions League places.
Another team flying under the radar are the Eagles of Lazio, who are perched in that lofty position at the moment. Simone Inzaghi apparently didn’t do enough to convince owner Claudio Lotito that he deserved the job on a permanent basis after a stint as caretaker following Stefano Pioli’s dismissal last season. The club instead dreamed of Bielsa and were left embarrassed when he resigned 48 hours after the announcement of his appointment. El Loco claimed that promises made by Lotito had not been kept. Asked to come back, Inzaghi has not disappointed. His brother may well have been the better player. Simone, however, already makes a compelling case to be considered the better.
Players who were underperforming are now back to something approximating their best. Keita Balde Diao’s tantrums are over - for now - and he is playing to his potential. Felipe Anderson dribbled not one, not two, not three but four players last night to score his first goal since April. Winning a gold medal with Brazil at the Olympics appears to have helped him get his swagger back. Summer signing Ciro Immobile also looks back to the player who became Capocannoniere with Torino. His brace in the 4-1 win against Cagliari last night makes it eight goals in his first 10 games for the club, a strike-rate not even his predecessor Miroslav Klose could match.
Before turning our attention to the title race, it is worth tipping a hat and winking suggestively in Atalanta’s direction. Juric’s maestro is not doing so bad himself. After taking revenge on former employers Inter at the weekend, Gasperini returned to Pescara, the team he once turned out for as a player, and won his fourth game in five. “We were awful in the first few weeks. Now we’re world beaters,” he observed. The contrast couldn’t be starker with the opening five games of his tenure, of which Atalanta lost four.
Faith in kids like the highly rated Frank Kessié, Andrea Petagna and Mattia Caldara is reaping rewards for the Bergamaschi. It seems Sassuolo are no longer an exception in giving young players a chance. Plaudits have come Montella’s way for throwing the likes of Manuel Locatelli in at the deep end, but Gasperini and Inzaghi, who promoted Alessandro Murgia, 20, and Cristiano Lombardi, 21, to the first team and watched both of them score deserves praise too. Only managers in Ligue 1 have given more game-time to players aged 21 or under than Serie A this season. It’s a most encouraging development.
If this has gone overlooked, it’s because all eyes were on San Siro. On Sunday Frank de Boer admitted he didn’t know if he would still be on the bench on Tuesday. La Repubblica wrote: “He is no longer coach of Inter. They just haven’t told him yet.” Questioned on whether that was his impression too, the Dutchman, speaking a curious mix of English, Spanish and Italian - or Esperanto as one of his detractors put it - said his mind was exclusively concentrated on the game against Torino. He would admit however that this was “definitely” the most difficult moment of his career so far. “I’m not used to losing three games in a row, neither as a coach, nor as a player.”
In the end, it turned out Gary Medel’s suspension was a blessing in disguise. Inter played with the handbrake off and though you can't say any of them were particularly outstanding, Joao Mario, Marcelo Brozovic and Ever Banega has to be this team’s first choice midfield. Mario impressed again in a new role as the side's deep-lying playmaker. But the night belonged to Mauro Icardi.
Ending the longest drought of his career - a six-game famine - Icardi pounced on a mistake by Joe Hart and saved Inter’s blushes two minutes from time with a winning goal straight out of Gabriel Batistuta's highlight reel. After retracting the pages from his book that so upset the ultras, Icardi got Inter to tear up de Boer’s P45 as well, at least until the international break.
On the subject of Batistuta, memories of his first season at Roma came flooding back as Edin Dzeko emulated his feat of scoring 10 goals in the opening 10 games of a campaign. Roma of course won the Scudetto that year and by coming back from behind to win 3-1 away to Sassuolo, they underlined their credentials as the biggest threat to Juventus’ crown. A fourth straight victory was bittersweet however as just as Antonio Rüdiger made his comeback from knee surgery, Alessandro Florenzi tore his ACL. Already short as it is at the full-back position where the versatile Florenzi has been filling in, it’s a big blow.
At half-time last night Juventus had a five-point lead on Roma and a six-point advantage on Napoli who were losing to Sassuolo and being frustrated by Empoli respectively. The champions blitzed Samp, scoring twice within the first 10 minutes just as they had done at home to Sassuolo. It wasn’t a game short on novelties. Out of possession, Juventus defended with a back four. With it, Dani Alves played as a centre-back in a back three, using his skill and passing ability to help the team build from the back. Juan Cuadrado continued his hot-streak and helped Mario Mandzukic end 12-hour wait for a goal.
The headline, however, was Claudio Marchisio’s return after six months on the sidelines. The only Juventus midfielder at ease in front of the defence, the tactical intelligence and balance he brings to the side completes this team. They now have no excuse; the team has to start playing better, more fluid football on a consistent basis. Marchisio got 73 minutes under his belt just in time for Napoli’s visit on Saturday.
Missing the injured Arkadiusz Milik and the suspended Manolo Gabbiadini, experiments with Dries Mertens as a False Nine continue to yield positive results. The Belgian broke the deadlock against Empoli last night and has been involved in a goal or an assist every 64 minutes this season. Vlad Chiriches’ clincher was Napoli’s fifth goal from a corner. It seems Maurizio Sarri has dusted off his old book of set-piece routines. Without a natural centre-forward, he is aware Napoli have to find other ways to score. Evidently irritated by people underestimating his team - something Sarri hasn’t exactly helped by saying he never thought Napoli could compete for the title unless Juventus made a series of cock-ups - Saturday night at the J Stadium is the perfect time for him and his players to prove their doubters wrong.
@JamesHorncastle
