Serie A: The title contenders and the pretenders
After 12 rounds of matches in the Serie A, the verdict is out. This year unlike any in the recent past the battle for the top honours in the Italian League would not be contested only by the top three or four clubs, but by as many as eight clubs. Besides the usual suspects Milan and Juventus, clubs like Udinese, Napoli, Lazio, Palermo, Roma and Catania are locked in the battle for supremacy. How many clubs remain in contention after Christmas is anyone’s guess. The team with loads of experience at this level coupled with players dedicated to a common cause will ultimately win the coveted Scudetto come May next year.
Is it a dawn of a new era in Italian football or will it be the established force coming out trumps at the end of the season? Just who are the real contenders? It is always a healthy sign to have new teams emerging as title contenders in a league but are they worthy enough or are they title pretenders? Lets analyze the title contenders and pretenders of Serie A.
1) Juventus : Currently sitting at the top of the ladder, Juventus are the only side not to have lost a single match in the league this season. The team headed by Antonio Conte has gone through a complete transition this season and are looking as dangerous and feisty as the Juventus of the 90’s. The club has been bouyed by its combined 85.3 million euro signings this summer and is playing the same free flowing and attacking football that epitomised their spirit and success in its golden era.
Mirko Vucinic
Conte has injected fresh blood and thus breathed life into the Old Lady. He made a slew of high profile signings in the summer namely midfielders Eljero Elia from Sv Hamburg, Simone Pepe from Udinese, Arturo Vidal from Bayer Leverkusen, Andrea Pirlo from Milan, forwards Mirko Vucinic from AS Roma, Alessandro Matri from Cagliari, Fabio Quagliarella from Napoli, defenders Stephen Lichtsteiner from SS Lazio and Marco Motta from Udinese.
The Turin side look all set to put their scandalous past behind, and stake claim to the Italian throne. With the new look team giving some dazzling and eye catching performances the odds are now heavily stacked in favour of the Old Lady. Antonio Conte could well be the man to bring joy to the northern end of Italy.
Verdict : Contenders
2) A.C Milan : The current Serie A champions, Milan had a slow start to their campaign, but now seem to have stepped up their performance level. They are currently just two points behind Juventus in second place. The Rossonieri have the best goal difference in the league after 12 rounds, and have fired 27 goals at an average of a little over two goals per match. Having ensured their progress into the knockout phase of the Champions League, Milan will now be turning their attention on strengthening their league position and surely Massimiliano Allegri will be adding more quality to his team in January.
Zlatan Ibrahamovic
The Manchester City outcast Carlos Tevez could be reunited with another former City outcast Robinho in January, if the two clubs reach an agreement. Tevez could ease the pressure on Milan’s most trusted marksman Zlatan Ibrahamovic. The turning point in Milan’s change in fortune was their incredible win over Lecce that not only silenced their detractors, but also proved that the club were not solely dependant on Ibrahimovic to bail them out of tough situations. Having trailed by three goals at halftime, and booed by their own supporters off the pitch, the Rossonieri staged a heroic comeback led by their attacking midfielder Kevin Prince Boateng – who in the process bagged his first career hat trick. Milan saved their blushes and finally won 4-3 much to the delight of their fans. Since then the club has been in rampaging form and has not lost a single game. With growing confidence and belief in their abilities, the Rossonieri could prove to be a hard nut to crack.
Verdict: Contenders
Alexis Sanchez
3) Udinese : Nothing seemed to have gone right with the Udine club even before the season has kicked off. They lost their golden boy Chilean Alexis Sanchez to F.C Barcelona after a protracted transfer saga. This was followed by the club’s elimination at the hands of English giants Arsenal in the Champions League qualifiers. The misery was further compounded by departures of influential midfielders Gokhan Inler and Simone Pepe to rivals Napoli and Juventus respectively. Udinese manager remained undeterred by the ominous exodus of players, and trusted his remaining players to deliver. The players didn’t disappoint their manager. Led by their enigmatic captain, and last season’s top scorer, Antonio Di Natale, the Bianconeri won 7 games, and stormed to the top of the league table after 11 rounds only to lose it to Juventus a week later. The club are placed third in the table at present, and look to take the battle of Scudetto right down to the wire. We hope for the good of the sport, and the league that Udinese do not disappoint their fans.
Verdict: Contenders
4) S.S Lazio : The Biancocelesti or the blue side of Rome have had mixed fortunes in the last five years. The 1999-2000 Serie A champions flirted with relegation in 2009, but came back strongly in the following season, leading the Serie A standings for weeks, only to lose it ultimately to A.C Milan. Sadly for Edoardo Roja’s expensively assembled team their European ambition took a nosedive after Napoli and Udinese pipped them for the two remaining Champions League spots. It was a disappointing end to a sensational start to their league campaign.
Djbrill Cisse
This season the club once again began brightly, and even occupied the top spot for a week but a string of poor results and inconsistent performances have pushed the club into fourth place. Roja has propped up his attacking options by signing the well travelled and mercurial French striker Djbrill Cisse from Panathnaikos along with German ace Miroslav Klose from Bayern Munich. Despite the highly rated duo spearheading the attack, the goals have been hard to come by. To mount a challenge for the Scudetto, Lazio will soon have to find inspiration from somewhere or else they would go down the same road they took last season.
Verdict: Pretenders
5) S.S.C Napoli : The Serie A outfit from Naples most notably famous for one Diego Maradona’s exploits is back on the world map, after a long spell of wilderness and is forcing football aficionados to take notice. This recent revival has largely been due to the efforts of their talismanic manager Walter Mazzari who has managed to turn the fortunes of the club since his arrival two years ago. Last year the Azzurris enjoyed their best league finish since their golden era of the 80′s by finishing third in the table, and thus qualifying directly into the Champions League group stages. Despite being handed a tough group, the Azzurris have impressed the neutrals, and are now on the cusp of making it to the knockout stages.
Walter Mazzari
The club is one of the three league teams to spend more than 50 million euros this season on reinforcements. Edinson Cavani who was instrumental in their success last season was signed on a permanent basis by the club despite being courted by a host of other European powerhouses. Apart from him Mazzari signed Swiss international midfielder Gokhan Inler from Udinese, Miguel Angel Britos from Bologna and Goran Pandev from Inter Milan. The next few weeks leading to Christmas are going to be extremely crucial for Napoli as they pursue not only the league title but also European glory. Their next big test is an away game to Villareal on the final day of the Champions League group games. A disappointing result in Spain could severely dent their confidence in the league as well.
Being touted as the favourites to win the Scudetto this year Napoli have failed to match the expectations and their midweek draw to title favourites Juventus, epitomised their recent run in the league. The club led by a 2 goal margin only to blow it away in the final quarter of the match finally managing a 3-3 draw. Napoli have to kickstart their campaign before Christmas or else they might end up losing some of their key players in the January transfer window.
Verdict: Pretenders
6) A.S.Roma : Like Juventus, A.S.Roma are a club in transition. The Roman outfit had a busy summer signing a string of players to help them bring some much needed silverware to their trophy cabinet. The club is now managed by the former Barcelona playmaker Luis Enrique who previously managed Segunda Division side Barcelona B. Luis added Spanish flavor to the Giallorossi by signing midfielder Fernando Gago, highly rated Argentine striker Pablo Osvaldo, Spanish forward Bojan Krkic and Jose Angel from Real Madrid, Espanyol, Barcelona and Sporting Gijon respectively.
Bojan Krkic
The team also has a new goal custodian in Martin Sketelenburg who signed from Ajax. Roma were the second biggest money spenders in the summer in Italy behind Juventus. The arrival of such big names brought renewed hope and greater expectations but the club had an inauspicious start to their season so much so that the appointment of Luis Enrique was beginning to be questioned. A run of favorable results got the club’s season back on track, but Luis has still not been able to plug his team’s leaky defence.
On an average the club has conceded more than a goal per game, which has been a constant bane. The club is still heavily reliant on their captain fantastic Francesco Totti whose career has been beset by nagging injuries. The biggest challenge for the new manager is to create a team that gels together as a cohesive unit. With no European distraction this season, the manager perhaps has a better chance of moulding the team to his liking.
Verdict: Pretenders
7) Inter Milan : The Nerazzuri’s decline began after Jose Mourinho’s departure to Real Madrid. The club under the guidance of ‘the special one’ won the first treble in Italian history, and exceeded all expectations. After Mourinho, former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez took charge, but after a handful of indifferent results was sacked. This was followed by the appointment of former Milan midfielder Leonardo who managed the club till the end of the season, but his appointment as Sporting Director at the newly rich French side PSG left Inter without a manager once again.
Massimo Morrati
The club president Massimmo Moratti appointed Gian Piero Gasperini who had done wonders at rivals Genoa to provide the much needed stability. At the start of the 2011-12 season the club sold off its flagship striker Samuel Eto to Russian club Anzhi Makhachakla , and in turn added Diego Forlan, Mauro Zarate, Ricky Alvarez and Yuto Nagatomo to bolster the squad. Sadly Gasperini failed to get the maximum out of his new recruits, and after a disastrous spell which left the club reeling in the bottom half of the table flirting with relegation, was ultimately sacked by the club, and replaced by Claudio Ranieri.
Inter continue to struggle in the league, and have been plagued by injuries to its key players like Forlan and Wesley Sneijder. The Nerazzuris look a shadow of the treble winners of 2009-10 season. The squad is full of ageing stars, and its about time the club injected fresh legs into it. It seems unlikely that the club would trouble the top six clubs and it might be their worst season in recent times.
Verdict: Pretenders
Besides the above mentioned clubs, Palermo have emerged as the new force in Serie A in recent seasons. Having finished last season in 8th, Palermo led by their highly prolific forward, and captain Fabrizio Miccoli have played attractive football. They currently occupy 5th place in the table. After selling their matchwinner Javier Pastore to PSG, the Rosaneros looked destined to struggle, but they have surprised all and sundry. The club has a very strong chance of breaking into the top four this season especially with Inter badly misfiring. Not a title contender material yet, but definitely a contender for the top four.