After writing several previews, it's nice to be able to discuss results on the pitch rather than dealings in the transfer market. While some games were much more exciting than others, there was plenty of noteworthy action and surprising results to report on. I'll try to make it a habit to report on the games each week, focusing on matches featuring the big four of Juve, Roma, Inter and AC Milan, and any other especially interesting matches or goals.
To begin, we go to the Stadio Olimpico in Rome where AS Roma faced off against newly promoted Cessena. Myself and thousands of other Roma fans were no doubt expecting a goalfest to start the season, but it wasn't to be, despite the best efforts of captain Francesco Totti. Roma began the match playing their typical, flowing football, but it didn't produce any early goals, which allowed a determined Cessena defense to settle in. With Daniele De Rossi, Mirko Vucinic, and Simone Perotta notably off their games, Roma became very stagnant on offense, resulting in an extremely boring match that ended in a 0-0 draw.
Roma was not the only side that struggled in week 1, as Juventus fell on the road to Bari, who have only been in Serie A for one season. They nevertheless have managed to cobble together a decent squad, and have great fan support, as 45,00 packed the Stadio San Nicola for the match. While Juve had several high quality chances throughout the match, the winner game from Bari's Massimo Donati, who crushed a left footed strike from outside the box past the helpless Storari in goal just before the halftime interval.
By far the most entertaining and attacking match of the weekend occurred at the San Siro in Milan, where AC Milan took on newly promoted Leece. This game was much more typical of what one would expect when a recent Serie B team plays a perennial Scudetto contender. From the start, Milan was on their A game, particularly Pato and Ronaldinho, no doubt wanting to impress their new teammate Zlatan Ibrahimovic who was in attendance alongside president Galliani and owner Berlusconi. Once Pato opened the scoring, Milan looked world class, as even their missed chances left me stunned at their brilliant buildup. Ronaldinho looked incredibly active and fit, even racing back on numerous occasions to steal the ball back from unsuspecting Leece players. To top it all off, the announcing on espn3.com was hilarious, as they paired the usual announcer with some former Serie A player whose English was admittedly better than my Italian, but nowhere near good enough on TV. His analysis was never more than a sentence long, came in a thick accent, and hard to be heard to be truly appreciated (aka laughed at). For example, my favorite quote which was repeated after the goals; "Look that". But don't take my word for it, check out the highlight video below for those who like awkwardness or just like to make fun of wops (you know who you are). Unfortunately even the match highlights don't do Milan's performance justice, as the chances created by Milan were so numerous they seriously should have put in at least 8 goals. Nevertheless, Enjoy.
Roma was not the only side that struggled in week 1, as Juventus fell on the road to Bari, who have only been in Serie A for one season. They nevertheless have managed to cobble together a decent squad, and have great fan support, as 45,00 packed the Stadio San Nicola for the match. While Juve had several high quality chances throughout the match, the winner game from Bari's Massimo Donati, who crushed a left footed strike from outside the box past the helpless Storari in goal just before the halftime interval.
By far the most entertaining and attacking match of the weekend occurred at the San Siro in Milan, where AC Milan took on newly promoted Leece. This game was much more typical of what one would expect when a recent Serie B team plays a perennial Scudetto contender. From the start, Milan was on their A game, particularly Pato and Ronaldinho, no doubt wanting to impress their new teammate Zlatan Ibrahimovic who was in attendance alongside president Galliani and owner Berlusconi. Once Pato opened the scoring, Milan looked world class, as even their missed chances left me stunned at their brilliant buildup. Ronaldinho looked incredibly active and fit, even racing back on numerous occasions to steal the ball back from unsuspecting Leece players. To top it all off, the announcing on espn3.com was hilarious, as they paired the usual announcer with some former Serie A player whose English was admittedly better than my Italian, but nowhere near good enough on TV. His analysis was never more than a sentence long, came in a thick accent, and hard to be heard to be truly appreciated (aka laughed at). For example, my favorite quote which was repeated after the goals; "Look that". But don't take my word for it, check out the highlight video below for those who like awkwardness or just like to make fun of wops (you know who you are). Unfortunately even the match highlights don't do Milan's performance justice, as the chances created by Milan were so numerous they seriously should have put in at least 8 goals. Nevertheless, Enjoy.
While I promised the review would focus on the matches and not transfer talk, today's deals came so fast and furious that they simply have to be discussed. Just when you thought Milan had made the biggest coup of the transfer window by buying Ibrahimovic, they scooped up Robinho at the last second from Manchester City from 18 million euros. For now, I'm just happy that another incredibly talented attacking player has joined the squad, meaning Milan now has a strike-force to rival any outside of Barcelona. While this surely means lots of exciting highlights, it still leaves Milan with an extremely unbalanced squad and the potential for lots of playing time issues amongst the four star attackers, but I'll wait and see how it plays out on the pitch before I start being negative. For now, I simply want to enjoy the fact that my favorite team replaced Marco Borrielo (Roma) and Klass Jan Huntelaar (Shalke) with Robinho and Ibrahimovic. With these new "champions in red and black, only two thoughts come to mind; Scudetto, and see me in Fifa 11. Anyways, back to the review.
The final game of the weekend saw Inter travel to Bologna, in a rare Monday match in Serie A. Considering the struggles of Roma and Juve, perhaps it wasn't as big a surprise that Inter also struggled mightily, as they could only muster a 0-0 draw. Most of the match was a yawner similar to the Roma game, but it picked up near the end, as Inter poured on the pressure, most notably with an Eto'o volley that went off the keepers head and off the post. Either way, it seems that new manager Rafa Benitez has his work cut out for him to replicate the treble winning ways of his predecessor, Jose Mourinho.
Thus, with week one completed, the headline grabbers are undoubtedly AC Milan. Not only do they lead the table thanks to their 4-nil thrashing of Leece, but they have pulled off the biggest transfers of the summer, buying both Ibrahimovic and Robinho for less than market value thanks to player unrest and some good timing. While it would have been nice to see Milan improve the defense instead of the attack, I'm going to enjoy the exciting transfers for the time being rather than worry about how Allegri will possibly manage the huge egos that now occupy the Milan locker room. The league doesn't play again for two weeks due to an International break, but I'll leave you with some upcoming fixtures and plans to review each weeks' matches. Ciao.
Saturday 9/11 Udinese at Inter
Saturday 9/11 Milan at Cessena
Saturday 9/11 Roma at Cagliari
Sunday 9/12 Juventus at Napoli
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