22 September 2011
ROMA 1 (Osvaldo 25)
SIENA 1 (Vitiello 88)
Lobont made a stunning one handed save to deny Brienza. De Rossi hit Angel with a great crossfield pass, Borriello beat his marker to the cross and pulled back a centre for Osvaldo to tap-in at the back post. Calaio should have punished a Kjaer error to equalise. For the second time in a week the great Dane made a miraculous point blank block on the line from Gonzalez. It's like having two goalkeepers. Gonzalez wasted a counter attack with a poor finish. Brienza saw his shot come back off a post but Vitiello tapped in the rebound. Osvaldo missed an absolute sitter at the death from a perfect Cicinho free kick. It would have been a travesty if they took three points from this game, they didn't deserve one, they were awful.
Luis Enrique is the next dead man walking.
Attendance : 35,000
Assists : Borriello, n/a
21 September 2011
CESENA 1 (Mutu 15)
LAZIO 2 (Hernanes 48 Pen, Klose 54)
Mutu chested down an absolute peach of an inswinging crossfield pass before tapping in his first goal of the season. Cisse had a shot cleared off the line. Lazio won a penalty for a foul on Diakhate. Hernanes staggering his run-up which I thought wasn't allowed. Ravaglia denied Cisse with a spectacular one handed save before laying on the winner for Klose. He threaded a ball between two Cesena players and with a magnificent first touch with his left foot, Klose cut between them and lobbed Ravaglia as he came off his line.
Attendance : 20,000
Assists : Colucci, Diakhate (won pen), Cisse
CHIEVO 1 (Moscardelli 71)
NAPOLI 0
Mazzarri rung the changes leaving out his four big hitters (Cavani, Hamsik, Lavezzi and Inler). Three of them came on in the second half but couldn't stem the tide as Chievo continued to boss proceedings. Hetemaj swung a cross into the box, Fideleff did a Nesta and made a blind clearance and Davide 'The Undertaker' Moscardelli lashed a magnificent left foot volley past De Sanctis. He clipped the crossbar with an effort from 25 yards.
Attendance : 10,000
Assist : n/a
FIORENTINA 3 (Jovetic 46, Cerci 61, Jovetic 81)
PARMA 0
Behrami recycled Vargas' half cleared cross and Jovetic hooked the ball past Mirante - his first since returning from a long injury lay-off. Cerci got down low to head in a Vargas cross. Jovetic slipped two defenders to score his second and complete a very easy victory. I realise Parma were without Giovinco but they need to put up more of a fight on their travels.
Italy now have two wingers with blistering pace (Cerci & Giaccherini) only they're both right sided.
Attendance : 20,436
Assists : Behrami, Vargas, Kharja
GENOA 3 (Palacio 29, Palacio 34, Constant 79)
CATANIA 0
Catania tried to play offside when defending a corner. Veloso lobbed the ball back into the box and Palacio scored as the Catania defence ran in the opposite direction. A fantastic through ball sent the lumbering Caracciolo clear, Spoli caught up and hacked at him from behind as he was about to round Andujar, he stumbled yet despite falling over with his back to goal he managed to get off a shot, Spoli back healed the ball off the line, straight to Palacio, 2-0. Constant, who had earlier hit the woodwork, back healed a pass to Veloso before spinning away from his marker, Veloso sold a defender a dummy before playing wide to Palacio and Constant met his cross with a bullet header.
Veloso is finally starting to justify the hype lavished on him earlier in his career. Palacio could walk into the starting XI of any team in the World.
Attendance : 21,000
Assists : n/a, n/a, Veloso
JUVENTUS 1 (Vucinic 29)
BOLOGNA 1 (Portanova 52)
Vucinic shot Pirlo's quickly taken free kick inside the right post then picked up some sort of plastic bucket and put it over his head to celebrate. He picked up two quick yellows, the second for taking out Morleo to stop a counter attack. Portanova, who looks like MMA fighter Brian 'don't call me Dick' Ebersole, climbed over Chiellini to head in the equaliser. In the last seconds of injury time a three way collision saw Gillet knocked out and Casarini & Pepe laying on the turf in agony. Mudingayi was furious, not sure why, and had to be restrained.
Attendance : 38,000
Red Card : Vucinic 46 (Juventus)
Assists : Pirlo (fk), Ramirez (ck)
LECCE 1 (Mesbah 25)
ATALANTA 2 (Denis 3 Pen, Denis 56)
Mesbah kicked Schelotto from behind to concede the penalty but made amends to score the equaliser. He started the move with a ball to Grossmuller and finished it via an inadvertent Di Michele pass. Capelli flicked on a corner and Denis leapt in the air to crash home a spectacular overhead kick at the back post. Grossmuller pushed Moralez in the back, who predictably fell clutching his face, to earn a second yellow.
Atalanta started the season on -6 points are now on +1. Colantuono cannot be given enough praise for the belief he has instilled in his players. It's early days of course but the last coach to keep a lesser team in the league despite a points penalty was.... Walter Mazzarri.
Attendance : 8,000
Red Card : Grossmuller 63 (Lecce)
Assists : Schelotto (won pen), Di Michele, Capelli
MILAN 1 (El Shaarawy 63)
UDINESE 1 (Di Natale 29)
Torje embarrassed Abate on the right flank before sending in a cross which should have been a bread and butter save for Abbiati but he fumbled at Di Natale's feet, 0-1. Seedorf thundered a free kick against the left post. Cassano laid on a chance for Nocerino with some clever footwork, Handanovic dived at his feet, the ball broke for Abate but he flashed his shot wide of the left post.
Cassano trapped a Seedorf pass on his chest but as he swivelled and fired off a volley Handanovic blocked. El Shaarawy, who replaced the injured Pato in the first half, collected a pass from Cassano and angled a shot across goal via the left post. It was his first Serie A goal. Having been content to sit on their lead the goal sparked Udinese into life. Udinese should have been awarded a penalty when Zambrotta yanked away at Pinzi's shirt. Milan also had lesser penalty appeals for a 'foul' on Inzaghi. Pinzi saw his shot clip off the inside of the right post, bounce across goal and roll out for a corner. Abbiati scrambled across goal to make a brilliant save down low to his left from a Benatia header and pulled off another brilliant low save from Di Natale.
Attendance : 37,592
Assists : n/a, Cassano
PALERMO 3 (Zahavi 16 seconds, Bertolo 15, Miccoli 76 fk)
CAGLIARI 2 (Conti 84 fk, Nainggolan 91)
Zahavi, obviously not to be confused with the movie retailer scored, within 16 seconds of kick-off. Biondini gave the ball away in his own half with a sloppy touch out of defence, Zahavi played a one-two with Della Rocca and as he turned he let rip with an magnificent right foot shot which flew into the top corner from 25 yards out. Hell of a goal from the player that scored the best goal in last year's Champions League. Bertolo recovered from a poor first touch to smash a second past Agazzi. Miccoli caught Agazzi napping when he beat him with a free kick from a stupid angle way out wide left. Contini repeated the trick at the other end. Nainggolan, who would be a cheap solution to Milan's left side problem, danced past the Palermo defence to score a great consolation goal.
Palermo are fantastic entertainment at home. They can't defence a lick but going forward they're something else, just a wall of speed and stunning long range shooting.
Attendance : 18,965
Assists : Della Rocca, Miccoli, Miccoli (won fk), Ibarbo (won fk), Larrivey
20 September 2011
NOVARA 3 (Meggiorini 38, Rigoni 86 Pen, Rigoni 91)
INTER 1 (Cambiasso 89)
Novara did not score against the run of play. In between Chivu's goal-line clearance, Julio Cesar was forced into two saves. Cambiasso gave away a ball in midfield, Sneijder tried to recover but his tackle broke for Mazzarini and Meggiorini swept his centre past Julio Cesar. Morimoto's flick sent Mazzarini clear of the Inter defence but the 21 year old midfielder (looks 31) shot straight at Julio Cesar. Now at this point you'd think Novara would pay for that miss and they almost did when Pazzini flashed a shot wide of the left post. Morimoto did the Inzaghi trick of fouling his marker to win a penalty. Ranocchia watched from the bench as Rigoni sent Julio Cesar the wrong way. Cambiasso returned Giorgi's hurried clearance with interest to give Inter hope but Morimoto's tenacity sealed a famous win and Gasperini's fate. He wrestled with Obi on the corner flag, wriggled free and touched the ball to Giorgi, his poor shot was saved but Rigoni snagged the rebound.
Attendance : 15,596
Red Card : Ranocchia 85 (Inter)
Assists : Mazzarini, Morimoto (won pen), n/a, n/a