23 January 2011

UDINESE 3 (Zapata 21, Di Natale 25, Domizzi 69)
INTER 1 (Stankovic 16)

Motta dived into Armero as he tried to bring the ball out of defence with a perfectly timed sliding tackle, dropped a shoulder to throw off Domizzi then passed square to Stankovic, a great first touch took him away from a defender and he swept the ball inside the left post. Deflection king Stankovic almost made it 0-2 from a corner, his deflected volley clipped the top of Handanovic's crossbar. Pandev, who has been a bust since his move from Lazio, was tackled by Armero as he tried to spring a counter attack, Zapata spun onto Pinzi's first time pass then smashed the ball into the top left corner, only the third goal of his career. Four minutes later Di Natale curled a free kick into the bottom left corner. Udinese dominated the second half and Domizzi broke from an awful Inter wall after Asamoah headed a free kick back into the box and poked the ball past Castelazzi.

Leonardo is still a rabbit killer. This was his first major test away from home and he blew it. Inter's defence is awful. Only poor finishing let them off the hook against Catania and a linesman's flag in mid-week. Expect a high aggregate score in Inter's Champions League tie with Bayern.

Attendance : 23,000
Assists : Motta, Pinzi, Inler (won fk), Asamoah


BARI 0
NAPOLI 2 (Lavezzi 38, Cavani 87)

A free kick was touched to Cavani, he fired a shot at goal, Lavezzi ran across the box and back-healed the ball past a wrong footed Gillet. Brilliant goal. Parisi stuck his arm across Maggio's face as he was chasing down a ball, not exactly a forearm but he can have no complaints over the second yellow card for a stupid challenge. Lavezzi's brilliant run and cross left Cavani with a far post tap-in.

Attendance : 18,000
Red Card : Parisi 67 (Bari)
Assists : Cavani, Lavezzi


BOLOGNA 3 (Ramirez 36, Di Vaio 39, Di Vaio 89)
LAZIO 1 (Floccari 5)

Floccari dribbled into the penalty box, played a one-two with Hernanes, the Brazilian's return pass was off the charts, then slotted into the corner. That was as good as it got for Lazio. 20 year old Uruguayan midfielder Ramirez, linked with a ridiculously inflated ?15 million move to Inter, angled his run onto an Ekdal pass and as the ball dropped over his shoulder he screwed a volley into the bottom right corner. Di Vaio put Bologna in front with a fantastic second. He ran away from goal before passing inside a defender and playing a delayed one-two with Della Rocca as he drifted inside the box, Ledesma dived in with a sliding tackle, Di Vaio nonchalantly stepped away than blasted the ball past Muslera at his near post. Zarate blew a chance to equalise late in the first half, shooting straight at Viviano. Dias was sent off for jumping into Ramirez with a scissor like challenge and as he walked off the pitch Gimenez, an un-used substitute, got in his face to earn a pointless red card. Three minutes later Di Vaio pounced on a mix-up in the Lazio defence to bag his second goal against his former club.

At full time a brawl broke out. Zarate started it by throwing the ball at Rubin and in the ensuing shoving match accidentally punched a linesman when going for a Bologna player, well it stands to reason, he's been off target most of the season. Madman Malesani also claimed Zarate spat at Rubin. In any case Zarate is fucked. I expect at least a six match ban.

Attendance : 14,295
Red Card : Dias 86 (Lazio), Gimenez 87 (Bologna)
Assists : Hernanes, Ekdal, Della Rocca, n/a


CHIEVO 0
GENOA 0

Attendance : 9,484
Red Card : Cesar 68 (Chievo)
Assists : n/a


FIORENTINA 1 (Gilardino 56)
LECCE 1 (Di Michele 29)

As a Fiorentina defender was waiting for a high ball to drop Olivera beat him to the bounce, ran into the box and cutback for Di Michele to score. The West Ham reject blew a chance to give his team a priceless three points when he smacked a penalty against the underside of the crossbar. Gamberini flicked on a corner and Gilardino headed in the equaliser at the back post.

Attendance : 20,292
Assists : Olivera, Gamberini


SAMPDORIA 0
JUVENTUS 0

Attendance : 25,933
Assists : n/a


MILAN 2 (Pellegrino 45 og, Ibrahimovic 93)
CATANIA 0

Schelotto should have given Catania the lead after a terrible mistake by Antonini gave him a run on goal but Abbiati parried away his near post effort. Pellegrino put into his own net under pressure from Ibrahimovic. Robinho was again wasteful in front of goal - having rounded Antonioli he hit the woodwork but his partnership with Ibrahimovic continues to bear fruit, he played in the Swede on the overlap and from a tight angle he fired across goal inside the left post.

Tinkerman Allegri was at it again. This week he converted centre back Yepes into a DM and the Colombian was excellent. Merkel also had another good showing and is unlikely to be dropped so I would expect the newly signed Emanuelson to play at left back. Despite the fact that Ibrahimovic, Cassano and Robinho all played in mid-week Pato was still only given a few minutes as a late second half substitute. Allegri hasn't forgiven him for a dreadful and typically selfish performance against Lecce.

Attendance : 37,952
Assists : n/a, Robinho


22 January 2011

PALERMO 1 (Bovo 86 fk)
BRESCIA 0

Attendance : 21,152
Assist : Pastore (won fk)


PARMA 2 (Candreva 57, Giovinco 61 fk)
CATANIA 0

Candreva, who blew two good first half chances, couldn't miss from a foot out after Angelo's header rebounded off the crossbar. Giovinco wrapped up the three points and spoiled thug Diego Simeone's debut as Catania coach with a brilliant free kick.

Attendance : 8,000
Assist : n/a, Gobbi (won fk)


ROMA 3 (Totti 21 Pen, Perrotta 69, Menez 92)
CAGLIARI 0

De Rossi jumped to attack a cross and Canini hauled him down to concede a stupid penalty. Great spot by the ref. Agazzi made a fantastic save to prevent De Rossi from scoring what would have been one of the best long range goals of the season. From the resulting corner Juan headed the ball down at Agazzi who momentarily caught it before dropping it and Perrotta poked home. Menez beat Cagliari's offside trap, sold Agazzi a dummy then tapped into an empty net.

Attendance : 27,000
Assists : De Rossi (won pen), n/a, Vucinic


18 January 2011

INTER 3 (Eto'o 14, Milito 15, Chivu 45)
CESENA 2 (Bogdani 23, Giaccherini 29)

Attendance : 45,000
Red Card : Giaccherini 74 (Cesena)
Assists : Milito, Pandev, Ceccarelli, Jimenez, Maicon