2 December 2012
NAPOLI 5 (Inler 9, Hamsik 15, Cavani 58 Pen, Cavani 63, Inler 78)
PESCARA 1 (Bjarnason 18)
Pescara, who foolishly sacked Stroppa despite a decent start to life in Serie A, were just what struggling Napoli needed to get their fading title challenge back on track. Inler rarely scores but when he does his goals are usually special and that was the case on 9 minutes when he let rip from the edge of the box and the ball violently swung into the top corner. Hamsik scored from a rebound. Iceland international midfielder Bjarnason headed in his first Serie A goal from a great Zanon cross. Cavani wasted two excellent chances before Bocchetti tripped him for the penalty. Zuniga, Insigne and Hamsik combined to lay on his second. Inler blasted home a loose ball to complete the rout.
Napoli are still far from convincing although ironically this season it's in attack that they are struggling. If they are to challenge Juventus for the scudetto they must beat Inter at the San Siro next week.
Attendance : 40,000
Red Card : Bocchetti 57 (Pescara)
Assists : Insigne, n/a, Zanon, Cavani (won pen), Hamsik, n/a
BOLOGNA 2 (Diamanti 16 fk, Gabbiadini 70)
ATALANTA 1 (Denis 50)
Diamanti gave Bologna the lead with a sensational 40 yard free kick, an absolute beast of a shot. Denis pulled away from Bologna's giant but slow centre back Sorensen, who is on loan from Juve, to volley in Cigarini's cross. Gabbiadini scored with an acrobatic volley after Abero headed across goal.
Attendance : 18,006
Assists : Gabbiadini (won fk), Cigarini, Abero
GENOA 2 (Said 40, Jankovic 56)
CHIEVO 4 (Paloschi 14 Pen, Paloschi 22, Paloschi 46, Stoian 90)
What looked like a charitable penalty decision allowed Paloschi to give Chievo the lead. He beat a woeful offside trap to score his second. Said headed in Bertolacci corner to briefly get the hosts back in the match but a minute into the second half Paloschi completed a first career hat-trick (probably) with a close range header. Said miss controlled a pass the ball bounced towards Jankovic who took a couple of steps before ripping into a right foot half volley that flew over Sorrentino, brilliant goal. Stoian tapped in a rebound after Frey failed to hold from Jokic.
Attendance : 17,000
Red Card : Andreolli 72 (Chievo)
Assists : Hetemaj (won pen), Rigoni, Bertolacci (ck), Said, Guana, n/a
INTER 1 (Garcia 74 og)
PALERMO 0
Attendance : 42,113
Assists : n/a
LAZIO 2 (Biava 25, Klose 34)
PARMA 1 (Belfodil 66)
Biava poked the home side a goal up from a corner. Klose doubled Lazio's lead when beat Mirante and Benalouane to a Gonzalez through ball. Belfodil volleyed in a rebound after his penalty was saved.
Attendance : 29,000
Assists : Ciani, Gonzalez, n/a
SIENA 1 (Neto 25)
ROMA 3 (Destro 63, Perrotta 86, Destro 92)
Neto headed in a Valiani corner. Roma, who struggled without the physical presence of Osvaldo, equalised on the hour mark. Florenzi trapped a Tachtsidis cross on his chest before volleying forward to the unmarked Destro. The extremely limited Perrotta (remember him?), now 35, fired in a loose ball. Totti played a super ball inside a defender to Pjanic and he hooked a cross to the back post for Destro to score his second.
Attendance : 10,921
Assists : Valiani, Florenzi, n/a, Pjanic
UDINESE 4 (Pereyra 33, Angella 39, Danilo 48, Pasquale 66)
CAGLIARI 1 (Dessena 80)
Pereyra punished Conti's idiotic pass across goal to give Udinese the lead. Angella scrambled in the second from a Di Natale corner. Danilo headed in a Di Natale cross at the start of the second half. Fabbrini laid on the fourth for Pasquale on the counter attack. Dessena headed in an absolutely superb cross for Cagliari's consolation goal.
Udinese's first win in 5 games. Let's hope it stays that way, no one needs to see these misers in Europe.
Attendance : 9,000
Assists : n/a, n/a, Di Natale, Fabbrini, Cossu
FIORENTINA 2 (Savic 21, Savic 75)
SAMPDORIA 2 (Krsticic 48, Rodriguez 72 og)
Man City reject Savic towered above everyone in a packed penalty area to head Fiorentina into the lead from a Valero corner. Icardi headed a cross down to Krsticic, he checked inside Pasqual then smashed a left foot shot into the top right corner. Rodriguez, who cannot stop scoring, turned an Obiang centre into his own net. Sampdoria should have had a penalty for handball but seconds later Savic headed in the equaliser from a Pasqual free kick. Mustafi was sent off for going studs up on Pasqual.
Brilliant game but Fiorentina have been shipping goals in recent weeks and need to tighten up if they are to remain in the hunt for a Champions League place. They should also cash in on Jovetic the first chance they get, he can't stay fit. He really is the new Savicevic in more ways than one.
Attendance : 24,049
Red Card : Mustafi 90 (Sampdoria)
Assists : Valero (ck), Icardi, n/a, Pasqual (fk)
1 December 2012
JUVENTUS 3 (Marchisio 57, Giovinco 67, Marchisio 84)
TORINO 0
Glik was sent off for going through Giaccherini. Juve won a penalty for handball but Pirlo missed. Marchisio finally broke the deadlock with a diving header. Giovinco fired in the second from a Vucinic pass and Marchisio completed what had become the routine victory everyone expected by volleying into the right corner after Vucinic bounced Matri's pass off his chest.
Attendance : 40,042
Red Card : Glik 36 (Torino)
Assists : Giovinco, Vucinic, Vucinic
30 November 2012
CATANIA 1 (Legrottaglie 11)
MILAN 3 (El Shaarawy 53, Boateng 57, El Shaarawy 92)
Milan reject Legrottaglie punished slack defending by Acerbi to head Catania into the lead. Milan were listless until Barrientos kicked Nocerino to earn the first of the game's two red cards. El Shaarawy equalised from an offside position, poking in a deflected Boateng cross. El Shaarawy flicked on a De Sciglio cross to Boateng, he turned away from his marker, stepped inside Lodi as he ran in to challenge then whipped a shot inside the right post. Fantastic goal and his first since April. Robinho missed an open goal on the counter attack and Emanuelson hit the inside of a post. Boateng was sent off for a wild two footed foul from behind on Castro I'm surprised he doesn't get sent off more often, he makes these type of 'challenges' regularly. Amelia booted a goalkick 70 yards downfield to El Shaarawy, he switched play to the opposite flank with a pass to Nocerino, the ball eventually found Constant, who had drifted infield, he passed out wide to El Shaarawy and he ran into the box before bending a shot in off the right post. Fantastic finish.
Over the past week both Berlusconi and Prandelli have said El Shaarawy cannot be compared to any other player. I likened him to Del Piero but he's not a #10. His greatest off the ball quality is his closing down and defensive work. He's a raw striker with tremendous technique, speed and stamina, he can shoot off either foot and has a whacking long range shot. I believe no one has scored as many goals in a season at the same age since Giampietro Boniperti finished Serie A top scorer for Juventus in 1948. The boy is the best talent Italy have produced since Del Piero made his Juventus debut 20 years ago and I expect Milan would sooner take on foreign investment than sell him.
Milan have requested special permission from the league to play FIFTEEN YEAR OLD midfielder Hachim Matsour who already stands at an impressive 5ft 8 inches (1 inch taller than my 14 year old son).
Here are some circus tricks for those of you who like that sort of thing :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKF5d76leB0
And more impressively him in youth team action. Wait until you see his goal :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfmTwrXck3M
Attendance : 16,500
Red Cards : Barrientos 49 (Catania), Boateng 90 (Milan)
Assists : Lodi (ck), n/a, El Shaarawy, Constant