30 September 2012

UDINESE 0
GENOA 0

Attendance : 15,000
Assists : n/a


ATALANTA 1 (Denis 28)
TORINO 5 (Bianchi 38 Pen, Gazzi 62, Stevanovic 66, D'Ambrosio 73, Bianchi 76)

Cazzola, not to be confused with Arsenal's monstrously overrated Spanish midfielder, headed D'Ambrosio's sloppy defensive header back into the box and Denis trapped the ball on his chest before shooting past Gillet. Bianchi equalised from the penalty spot then Torino buried Atalanta in an avalanche of second half goals. Gazzi gave them the lead with a fluke diving header, he threw himself at Cerci's corner, diving away from goal, the ball bounced off his head and dropped into the opposite corner. I can't imagine he meant it. Stevanovic made it 1-3 with a lovely volley at the back post. D'Ambrosio headed in the fourth from a corner, needless to say Atalanta's defending on crosses was horrendous. Meggiorini fantastic through pass sent Bianchi clear to hammer home Torino's fifth.

Attendance : 13,378
Assists : Cazzola, n/a, Cerci (ck), Cerci, Cerci, Meggiorini


BOLOGNA 4 (Guarante 19, Gilardino 40, Gilardino 61, Kone 95)
CATANIA 0

Guarante blasted Bologna into the lead from the edge of the box after Gilardino forced a mistake from a defender. Garic found Gilardino with an excellent through pass and he held off Bellusci before nutmegging Andujar in the Catania goal. Gilardino headed in Bologna's third from a Diamanti corner. Diamanti almost beat Andujar with an exquisite chip, he clawed the ball away and Greece international Kone tapped in the rebound.

Gilardino has now scored 5 goals in 6 games as Pioli continues to work his magic with a veteran striker, as he did with Di Vaio last season. I'm a big fan of Pioli, he's a potential scudetto winning coach. If Roma had signed him instead of the incompetent Zeman they'd be challenging Juventus for the scudetto.

Attendance : 21,456
Red Card : Capuano 83 (Catania)
Assists : n/a, Garic, Diamanti (ck), n/a


CAGLIARI 1 (Pinilla 82 Pen)
PESCARA 2 (Terlizzi 50, Weiss 76)

This was the first match played in Cagliari's new stadium. They defaulted against Roma (3-0, probably the only clean sheet the idiot Zeman will get this season) when their dipshit president Cellino urged fans to attend the match despite the fact the stadia had not passed safety checks and this in the week following the Hillsborough enquiry. Unbelievable.

Terlizzi gave Pescara the lead with an awful free kick, almost certainly miss-hit. Weiss, who is on loan from Man City, trapped Nielsen's cross on his chest, dribbled past Pisano and curled a low shot inside the right post. Pinilla converted a penalty but Pescara held on to record a second consecutive victory.

Cagliari are rock bottom. It will be a surprise if coach Massimo Ficcadenti sees out the week.

Attendance : 4,400
Red Card : Rossettini 54 (Cagliari)
Assists : n/a, Nielsen, n/a


LAZIO 2 (Ederson 18, Ledesma 38 Pen)
SIENA 1 (Paci 91)

Ederson marked his Lazio debut with a bullet header from Candreva's corner. Pegolo fouled Klose to concede the penalty. Paci scored a late consolation goal after Lazio failed to deal with a corner.

If Lazio are still in the running for a Champions League place in the winter they must show some ambition and sign another striker and midfielder. A good starting XI but terrible bench.

Attendance : 25,000
Assists : Candreva (ck), Klose (won pen), n/a


PALERMO 4 (Miccoli 13, Miccoli 60, Giorgi 80, Miccoli 82)
CHIEVO 1 (Rigoni 27)

Miccoli opened the scoring with a brilliant free kick. Woeful defending from a corner gifted Chievo the equaliser but Miccoli was in irrepressible mood. Miccoli turned onto a Brienza pass, slalomed his way in between Papp and Hetemaj then skipped Dainelli's tackle before drilling a low shot past Sorrentino. Fantastic goal. He almost scored another brilliant solo goal but was denied by Sorrentino, Giorgi whacked in the rebound. Miccoli completed his hat-trick with a spectacular volley from the half way line, an early contender for goal of the season.

Attendance : 12,411
Red Card : Brienza 62 (Palermo)
Assists : n/a, n/a, Brienza, n/a, Kurtic


SAMPDORIA 0
NAPOLI 1 (Cavani 67 Pen)

Attendance : 24,715
Red Card : Mazzarri 43 Coach (Napoli), Gastaldello 76 (Sampdoria)
Assist : Hamsik (won pen)


INTER 2 (Milito 17 Pen, Cassano 34)
FIORENTINA 1 (Romulo 40)

Fiorentina had the possession but Inter were destroying them on the counter attack. The penalty was for handball. Milito came within an inch of scoring a phenomenal goal. Nagatomo hit a fantastic ball out of defence to Cassano, Milito flicked his pass over the head of a defender before crashing a shot against the underside of the crossbar. Cambiasso dummied a Ranocchia pass, taking out two defenders and leaving Cassano unmarked in front of goal, 2-0. Milito missed another glorious chance, from a Cassano pass and Rumulo headed in a Pizarro cross to bring a thoroughly entertaining first half to a close.

Cassano tried in the second half and both teams struggled to create chances. Rodriguez's stupid second yellow card ended Fiorentina hopes of a comeback.

Attendance : 41,082
Red Card : Rodriguez 62 (Fiorentina)
Assists : n/a, Ranocchia, Pizarro


29 September 2012

JUVENTUS 4 (Pirlo 11 fk, Vidal 16 Pen, Matri 19, Giovinco 90)
ROMA 1 (Osvaldo 69 Pen)

Marchisio won Juventus a free kick with a spectacular dive, ironically Taddei made the 'challenge', ironic because Taddei is one of the, if not THE, premier actor in World football which is fitting giving he looks like Kevin Bacon. Pirlo fired the free kick through the gap between Bacon and Burdisso. Castan punched the ball to concede Juve's first legit penalty of the season. The ever awful Burdisso fudged Roma's offside trap letting Matri in for the third. Osvaldo converted a charity penalty. In the 90th minute Barzagli intercepted a cross on the edge of the Juventus penalty area, flicked the ball over Taddei's head then held him off as he ran 70 yards downfield before slipping in Giovinco with a gorgeous pass around Marquinhos and Giovinco rounded Stekelenburg before tapping into an empty net. Brilliant goal. The best assist Barzagli will ever make.

Zeman talks a good game but he's a shit coach, he was over a decade ago and nothing has changed. Why his appointment was greeted so positively by some sections of the media is a mystery.

Attendance : 39,221
Assists : Marchisio (won fk), n/a, Vidal, Destro (won pen), Barzagli


PARMA 1 (Galloppa 66)
MILAN 1 (El Shaarawy 50)

Bojan played a ball out wide to El Shaarawy, he knocked it forward, accelerated past Zaccardo and squeezed the ball into the bottom right corner. Milan's achilles heel this season has been their set piece defending. Sloppy defending by De Jong on a free kick gifted Parma the equaliser.

At just 19 El Shaarawy has already become a clutch player for Milan though of course it's dangerous to rely on a teenager to bail you out. He's the best young player in Europe and will become a major force in the game once he matures physically, whether he'll still be a Milan player is another matter.

Attendance : 14,420
Assists : Bojan, n/a