Serie A 20-21 Juventus Against the Field

rguilmar

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Jul 16, 2005
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Match Day 3 is done, and we don't have a thread for Serie A this season yet. This is already shaping up to be a fun season. Lots of improvement at the top. By my count, seven teams should have the goal of finishing in the top four (and my math tells me that some won't make it). We have an American at Juventus. There was an "only in Italy" moment with Napoli refusing to go to Turin due to Covid concerns, Juve still taking the field, and now the league is trying to figure out what to do. As of right now, it looks like a Napoli forfeit.

So who do you have this year to take home the Scudetto? Juve or the field? For the first time in a long time, I am going with the field...

The Champs
Juventus- Their goal is to win the Champions League, preferably a treble. No big deal. They have a new coach (as in, first ever coaching gig) in Andrea Pirlo. He wants his team to play a flowing, beautiful style, but can they pull it off? They are loaded with talent. I do like their depth and diversity of players in midfield. Pirlo can mix and match based on who is playing well, who matches up with opponents well, and so on. Nonetheless, this is a big ask for a new manager.

The Challengers
Inter- The popular pick to unseat the champs. Last season it felt like they lacked the depth to truly compete in multiple competitions. This season is different. Lots of talent and depth. I like Antonio Conte to figure out how to maximize this group. The two forwards really complement each other well in Lauro Martinez and Romelu Lukaku.
Atalanta- Everyone's second favorite team. After setting all sorts of scoring records last season, they decided to focus entirely on defense. Or not. Three games in, 13 goals scored. It seemed like they could have put in double digit goals this weekend against Cagliari. They continue to be the team that plays most like a video game. Oh, and Josep Ilicic hasn't played yet this season.
Lazio- Everyone's second least favorite team. They would be likeable with any other history, but their Ultras make them easy to root against (to be fair, every team has their fair share of disreputable supporters, but Lazio is on another level). Attack minded team with some really fun players to watch. I feel like they overperformed their talent last season and are due for a regression this season.
Roma- A few savvy moves to add to their depth. Pedro and Mikhitaryan in for free. I feel like they have made the concerted effort to bring in lots of established players to complement their young core, and the end result as that they are just tough to beat. The big news was NOT losing Dzeko who looked to be all but gone a few weeks ago.
Milan- Perpetually trying to get back to the Champions League, and perpetually falling short. I think they are on the right path now, but still will finish outside the top four. Everyone else around them has improved a lot too. Three wins to start the season and they have yet to allow a goal, so at the very least they have started well. Plus Zlatan!
Napoli- They started off well in the first two weeks. Eight goals for and no goals against. Who knows how this week's circus will change things? As it stands they have a lot of quality. I think the question is their depth. Every transfer window, I feel like someone will come and nab Koulibaly. And every time he stays. It's nice to have that anchor in defense.

Other random thoughts-
Want to root for a team that nobody else knows about but is actually really fun to watch? Sassuolo is your team.
Want to hate a team because of the behavior of their fans (whenever they can get back in) but are getting tired of hating Lazio? Cagliari has had some ugly incidents the last few seasons.
Having trouble sleeping? Put on an Udinese game.
 

SocrManiac

Tommy Seebach’s mustache
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Apr 15, 2006
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Atalanta were one of the most exciting sides to watch across Europe after the restart. I'm surprised Juventus didn't sign one of their bigger names just to shake things up.

I am obviously biased, but Juve are so far ahead of the rest of the field that I don't think Pirlo finding his feet will dethrone them. If they could overcome Sarri, they can overcome virtually anything.

As I said in the game thread, the league needs some serious housekeeping after the Napoli/Juventus fiasco last night. I'm disappointed that Juventus took the field. There should have been a show of solidarity, and I genuinely wonder if there would have been if De Laurentiis wasn't such a fucking whiny prick over the past few years.
 

rguilmar

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Five rounds (minus one Genoa-Torino match) are in the books. Just some thoughts:

  • Goals, goals, goals. Just feels like there have been a lot of high scoring teams and games so far which Serie A is not known for.
  • Somewhat connected, but there is no shortage of strikers in Italy. Zlatan!! Lukaku, Morata, Belotti, Zapata, Quaglierella (Mr. DreamGoal), Dzeko, Caputo, Osimhen. Lots of size and muscle for these guys, lots of long days and ice baths for defenders
  • That Juve-Napoli forfeit match has been appealed. I think we can all agree that we hope that this is not the difference-maker for the season. It's the only game Napoli have not won this season and one of two wins for Juve.
  • What the hell is going on at Juventus? I understand that Chiesa was brought in on loan, similar to McKennie, so will count as a transfer next year, but the move seems like a luxury when the necessity was firepower up top. I like him a lot, and have no real issue with Morata in a vacuum, but for a team in a UCL title or bust campaign, it feels like other moves could have been made. Two of the big signings (Chiesa and Kulusevski) play the same position, so the result is that Chiesa ends up starting out left where he isn't comfortable and putting in a stinker against Barca. Pirlo feels out of his depth right now too. He hasn't found the right mix, especially (from what I have seen) in midfield. His moves have been questionable at best, at least this week against Barca. Plenty of time to correct things, but the seat might start feeling a tiny bit toasty already.
  • It's fun to see AC Milan and Zlatan top of the table for now

At any rate, some fun games this weekend. Roma-Fiorentina, Sassuolo-Napoli, Derby Della Lanterna (Genoa-Samp)
 

rguilmar

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Looking at the Serie A table before the international break is interesting.

AC Milan and Zlatan are tops and had a good chance to pull 4 points ahead of Sassuolo(!!!!!) who are playing very attractive soccer if you ignore their 0-0 draw against lowly Udinese (I think there were zero shots on goal backing up the point that Udinese is almost unwatchable). Of course Milan could only get the draw, but right now no team is capable of separating themselves. There seems to be a lot more teams scoring a lot more goals than usual. Serie A is still tactical, but maybe not as cagey right now. It's such a strange season with no real break for the players and a condensed schedule for the teams in Europe. Maybe it is not so shocking that none of the Champions League representatives from Italy are in the top 4 right now. I really think Milan, Roma, and Napoli have an advantage this year because they don't have the pressure of fielding their top squads mid-week.

The Juve-Napoli controversy continues, but if that decision is somehow reversed, Juventus would fall to 10th.
 

rguilmar

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Big slate of games this weekend, highlighted by:

Inter v. Sassuolo- one of these teams is second place in the table, and it's not Inter. Sassoulo lead the league in goals scored and have replaced Atalanta as the soccer hipster's choice
Roma v. Napoli- Big teams, big histories, loads of talent. Napoli's first game since the death of Maradona.
Atalanta v. Hellas Verona- good ol' fashioned offense versus defense game. Atalanta coming off of a win against Liverpool looking to avoid a let down.
AC Milan v. Fiorentina- "Blast from the Past" game. Milan top Serie A largely due to the influence of Zlatan (one of the better quotes I heard this week was that Milan finally found their replacement for losing Zlatan by bringing in Zlatan). La Viola have brought back Prandelli who managed in Florence during there most recent glory seasons.

Fun season so far. The top 8 are pretty packed, with six huge clubs in the mix (both Milan teams, both Rome teams, Juve, and Napoli) along with two smaller clubs who attack non-stop (Sassuolo) or attack to the point of suicide (Atalanta).
 

rguilmar

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Milan have opened up a 5 point lead (yeah, it's early) with Inter in second. Zlatan has definitely inspired something within Milan. Inter might actually benefit from crashing out of the Champions League and maybe not getting into the Europa League as this would ease the fixture crunch.

Napoli's appeal of the forfeit to Juventus has been rejected. If you don't know the story, Napoli were prevented by local health officials from traveling to Turin after two Napoli players tested positive for Covid. The league and/or courts ruled that Napoli had previously decided not to travel to Turin because of the positive tests but before any official prevented them from traveling. Juve knew that Napoli were not in town and took the field anyways. The result was a 3-0 win for Juve and a one point penalty for Napoli at a time when Napoli had been playing well and Juve had not.

Because these are two big clubs and because this is Italy, it is certain that the Napoli forfeit will decide the champion or who goes to the Champions League.
 

rguilmar

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Even though it's closer to 1/3 of the way through the season, are we calling this the halfway point?

Lots of interesting things both behind us and to come:
AC and Inter have slightly, sort of pulled ahead: this could be a lot of fun in Milan
AC Milan scored the fastest goal to start a game in Serie a history: 6 seconds
Napoli lost its favorite adopted son in Maradona, Italy in general lost Paolo Rossi
3 teams through to the round of 16 of the Champions League (interestingly, all 3 are out of the top 5 in Serie A right now)*
Napoli and Juventus have a game in hand as Napoli won the appeal

*The fixture list crunch is just brutal

No matches between the traditional big name teams (Juve, Milan, Inter, Napoli, Roma, Lazio, hell I'll throw Fiorentina in there simply because I want them to return to glory) or major derbies in matchday 15 so Atalanta-Sassuolo get top billing. Absolute must see TV for anyone who likes attacking, free flowing soccer. Matchday 16, which is midweek, has an interesting little game: Juventus- AC Milan at San Siro.