The Lord Spencer Serie A Thread: Round 1

[Lord Spencer]

Ok folks, I will start my first episode of the Serie A analysis.
I hope you enjoy it.

First, what an explosive start this was. This weekend saw 35 goals in 10 games, meaning the rate of goals per game was 3.5. Out of those 10 games 4 were draws, with only one negative draw between Siena and Catania, which was a dull affair.

Well without further ranting, here is my analysis of the weekend;

The Milan Lethargy:

Both Milan teams are touted as the favorites to win the title, and for good reason. However, this round was not what they wanted it to be. Milan showed a dangerous lack of urgency in their start to the campaign.

Lazio could have ended the game in their favor if not for a surprising Klose miss, and even more surprising Hernandes sitter going off target. Nesta was the only thing standing between a Cisses shot and the target, while Tiago Silva was not his usual commanding self. I bet Milan fans are thankful their club have decided to stick with Cassano, who was a joy to watch.

On the German front, fans of Dir Manchaft (correct my spelling please) should pleased that their icon seems to be fitting in to Serie A well, with him being a really excellent offensive outlet for Lazio.

The blue and black side of Milan fared even worse. Bi polar Palermo was at their best tonight, with Miccoli being on target twice, and assisting a third. Unsurprisingly, the three defenders formation leaked goals galore, and while Diego Millito was in target twice to give inter the lead, the defense could not hold on to it as a mercurial Miccoli ran the show.

I stated before that Julio Ceasar never recovered his form after Brazil’s WC exit and he showed that this match, after two semi-easy balls managed to get into the net. What is more worrying than the loss though for Inter was the fact they got dominated by a Palermo not run by a real Coach. Gaspirini either needs to stamp his authority and explain his dreaded 3-4-3 to his confused looking player, or he should adapt to a more sustainable formation. There is however two positives for inter in this game, the first is that Forlan scored in his debut, and the second is he possibility of Millito to be great this season.

The Up and Down of Rome:

The capital teams have gone to opposite directions. With Lazio drawing their possibly hardest game, while Roma failed to start off positively.

Lazio can feel safe with their investments in Klose and Cisse as both looked great tonight. Hernandes was his usual self, despite the awful sitter. Mauri was a creative force and is showing why Prandelli is interested. However, the defense looked anything but solid. Ibrahimovitch seemed to terrify them although he was on first gear most of the match, while Cassano managed to become magical because of their slow reaction to his trickery. Lazio could have won this game had they invested more on their defense, which I see as a potential weakness.

Roma in the other hand looked confused, and they did nothing productive with their nearly 60% possession. Louis Enrique does not get much slack, especially with Totti being the most creative danger in the field. Both Bojan and Osvaldo disappointed today, and while this was their first Serie A game; Roma does not look like a competing team. They need more time to jell sure, but is Enrique being stubborn with his Barc lite approach.

Angel can be blamed for his foolish red card, but all around the pitch you see Roma moving disjointedly, with most of theire passes in their half of the field. Bojan failed to register one shot on target. While Totti managed to shot two which were narrowly saved by the keeper. Roma need to show us they can play better than an a Barca C team.

Successful Inauguration:

First, congrats to the Juve fans for their beautiful stadium. Which witnessed tha mauling of Parma. Juve showed great depth by beating Parma 4-1 without even starting with their strongest formation.

Pirlo showed sign of being a magnificent signing; I bet Milan would facepalm this season at letting Pirlo go. Two sublime assists are only half of the story as Pirlo dictated the pace of the game. The Juve midfield completely outclassed Gallopa and co. It should be noted though how the intro of Vidal made Juve look twice as dangerous. The Marchisio-Vidal issue is a sensitive one, and today showed no clear advantage to Vidal, but an advantage non-the less. Krasic looked rusty at his intro today, but showed glimpses of what he can do, while Pepe is slowly trying to show his more than a headless chicken.

On a massive note, remember the Full Back problems Juve had the past 4 years. Lichstwahtzihsname is howing to be a great signin, excellent goal and a balance of offense and defense is reassuring. De Ceglie was solid as well, although he stupidly brought down Givinco for a harmless penalty late on.

Speaking of Givinco, doesn’t he seem to relish playing against his former team? An absolute live wire all match, tested Buffon with an excellent effort, and tried to coax his lifeless teammates to life every time he got the ball. It was only fitting his performance that a great run of his is to cause a penalty, which he scored.

Southern Glory:

Other than Lecce, all southern teams managed to get a point. Three won including Cagliari and Palermo who both slew giants. Napoli in the other hand routinely dispatched Cesena. Although they had to wait for the 67’th minute to do so, and for the 87’th minute for Hamsik to seal the game.

A typically Italian close affair, Napoli managed to beat Cesena to start their campaign with a bang. I guess De Laurentes will not storm out of the stadium with a moped this time. On that issue, I hear random strangers with mopeds will congregate outside of the CL match of Napoli for the honor of aiding Napoli’s president angrily escaping the press.

Lord Spencer Awards:

The Best Match:
Palermo 4-3 Inter

This match is a classic, twice Inter get ahead just for Palermo to equalize. And then Palermo pegs Inter by 2, with a late Forlan goal acting as a consolation. Not to mention the Virtuoso display of Miccoli.

The Heroes:

1- Fabrizio Miccoli: A magnificent performance from the chubby talisman. Two goals and assist are not everything. Carried Palermo in his back and cause Inter’s back lines all kinds of problems. I bet the three of then will see him in their dreams tonight, and he will be trolling them.

2- Andrea Pirlo: Sublime assists to Whathisname and to Marchisio. A performance in resemblance to his glory days. Pirlo absolutely controlled the game against Parma, and is showing signs of being a great signing.

3- Antonio Cassano: Another chubby talisman in this list. Milan are thanking their management for keeping him this season. In a typical hot and cold evening, Cassano first failed to do the basics, but after the two goals stepped up his display with an assist and a goal. Props to Aquilani as well for helping Peter Pan out.

The Zeroes:

1- Mauro Zarate: Totally useless in his debut with Inter. Nothing he did came off, and as a result he never really did anything. Substituted at the 34’th minute without an injury, Ouch.

2- Bojan Krikic: Out of 16 shots on goal Roma made in the gone. Bojan’s contribution to that tally was nil, which is pretty terrible for an offensive player. An Awful start to the campaign. I lament that the coach played him in the first place in such an unorganized shamble; performances like these will only shatter his confidence. Ineffective and lost.

3- Nest-Silva: The best pair of last year started badly. With Lazio having 5 chances of scoring easy goals, two that came off. Nest was slow, but get points for an important block, while Silva looked bored and uninterested. The pair needs to step it up in order for Milan to feel secure in the back.

Conclusion:

This was an excellent start to Serie A, and it looks like things on the top are going to be hot and heavy. All in all, this was a round of attackers, and defenses generally had bad games.

Stay in tune for more episodes of the Lord Spencer thread.

[Ganso]

I dont see why people are blaming silva for the goals,it was mostly nesta's fault from what i saw

[elm_baraja_shaman]

great read....

[Camurrìa.Sto.Stronzo]

Lord, I think you're wrong about Marchisio and Vidal... Marchisio was the one who had the better goal and plus was our most hard working player on the pitch, him and Pirlo were like a gel together. When Vidal came on, Juve shifted to a 4-3-3 in which our midfield and system more stable, in which brought both goals of Marchisio and Vidal. Behind Pirlo, Marchisio was the best player on that pitch, excluding Del Piero.

[elm_baraja_shaman]

Lord, I think you're wrong about Marchisio and Vidal... Marchisio was the one who had the better goal and plus was our most hard working player on the pitch, him and Pirlo were like a gel together. When Vidal came on, Juve shifted to a 4-3-3 in which our midfield and system more stable, in which brought both goals of Marchisio and Vidal. Behind Pirlo, Marchisio was the best player on that pitch, excluding Del Piero.

Italian minded......

Vidal goal was equally as good and wasn't on a silver platter like Marchisio's goal.

[Lord Spencer]

@Ganso, but it was Silva who left Nest to dry in the first place. Anyways, even if Nesta was the biggest culprit. Silva is his pair, and should help him. And so I will always put pairs or trio whenever I pick the defense in Heroes or Zeroes, unless a defender does a Bonera.

@Scicca, I know Marchisio had a great game, but so did Vidal.

[Ganso]

well,yeah silva could be better positioned on both goals but Klose dribbled nesta then shot and in the second goal cisee just went by Nesta without sweating.both were to blame.but this happens,it was the first game the team was really complete + we started without MVB,ambrosini didnt cover the cbs well.

[Eivindo]

the problem with Roma was that they were lazy in the beginning, they actually played better when they had 10 men on the field near the end.

[Lord Spencer]

@Ganso;
I am not saying both are Zeroes.

They just flopped this week, and it happens to the best of us. It is especially noticeable when you it happens to the best pair of last year. Which includes one of the best CB of all time, and the second or best CB of last year.

I am Milan Supporter Ganso, but I need to be unbiased if this thread is to succeed. I am sure those guys will turn around next week, it is Zarate and Bojan who needs to really step it up.

@Eivindo;
I agree, Roma was lazy.

@All, it is really stupid that I spend an hour or so writing this and then someone neg reps without any discussion.

[Grande_Milano]

Disagree on matches I watched (Inter and Milan games):

-Hernanes was average, not because of the miss, but due to failure to lead the attack later in the match.

-JC, despite being in bad form saved Inter asses a lot early. Defence was alarming.




To Ganso:

TS lost his position, Nesta was crucified by speed, but that all happened because Silva was fooling around.

[IzzyC08]

Nesta was to blame for the goals. Whoever thought it was Thiago's fault has got to be kidding. It isn't too often you get right up to Nesta and he lets you by like he did with Klose. The Cisse goal Nesta was marking Cisse and he got burned, Nesta looked very shaky all night. While anytime Silva made a challenge he won the ball.

[Patrick Bateman]

@Ganso;
I am not saying both are Zeroes.

They just flopped this week, and it happens to the best of us. It is especially noticeable when you it happens to the best pair of last year. Which includes one of the best CB of all time, and the second or best CB of last year.

I am Milan Supporter Ganso, but I need to be unbiased if this thread is to succeed. I am sure those guys will turn around next week, it is Zarate and Bojan who needs to really step it up.

@Eivindo;
I agree, Roma was lazy.
@All, it is really stupid that I spend an hour or so writing this and then someone neg reps without any discussion.

More like Cagliari were lucky...

[Camurrìa.Sto.Stronzo]

Here we go again with these trolls, who on earth would neg rep this ffs?

[Ganso]

Yeah,Silva was part of the mistake but it was 70% of nesta's fault,he could have done better.Besides he was dreadful in the first half,very sloppy

[Grande_Milano]

Lets just say whole defence was shaky, so even Antonini didnt look that mediocore lol

[BarrileteCosmico]

"1- Mauro Zarate: Totally useless in his debut with Inter. Nothing he did came off, and as a result he never really did anything. Substituted at the 34’th minute without an injury, Ouch."

Man, hate to say it, but this was completely predictable.

[El Chelsea Fuerte]

"1- Mauro Zarate: Totally useless in his debut with Inter. Nothing he did came off, and as a result he never really did anything. Substituted at the 34’th minute without an injury, Ouch."

Man, hate to say it, but this was completely predictable.

But he was good on FIFA!!

[zizzle]

good read, looking forward to your next espisode

[Lord Spencer]

Disagree on matches I watched (Inter and Milan games):

-Hernanes was average, not because of the miss, but due to failure to lead the attack later in the match.

-JC, despite being in bad form saved Inter asses a lot early. Defence was alarming.




To Ganso:

TS lost his position, Nesta was crucified by speed, but that all happened because Silva was fooling around.

I did not say Hernanes had a great game. He was average according to his standards, which is good. But there have been some knee jerk reactions about him in the GS.

The whole defense along with Ceasar, who was suspect on two goals were bad. Yes, he saved them a couple of times.
If he didn't, he would be with his teammate Zarate in Zeroes of the week.

@The Fonz, I agree that Cagliari were lucky, but Roma did not deserve a victory just as Milan would have deserved a victory if Cassano's shot hit the post. I thought a Draw would have been fair and would have made less knee jerk reactions from the fans and the media.

[Swanhends]

35 goals in 10 games this week if I counted right

[Patrick Bateman]

Best league in the world.

Even Sepi said it

[Lord Spencer]

35 goals in 10 games this week if I counted right

You could have saved yourself the time of counting if you just read the OP, where I
even made the simple calculation of the ratio. 3.5 Goals per game

@The Fonz;
I can't imagine doing this thread for any other league.

[Camurrìa.Sto.Stronzo]

We need Wiggles to confirm that Fonz

[Patrick Bateman]

Bring back the mighty Wigglesworth

[The Franchise]

Dont know why this was negged rep, even if you dissagree with some of it give the guy credit because it was a nice read, exactly right length and pretty accurate while giving anyone who missed a game (or all) a nice summary.

Kudos.

On the game I saw.


I think Hernanes was the only player Milan marked well, simply because they always have numbers in the center. Out wide, the fullbacks came up time and time again and gave 2 v 1´s which caused Milan problem.

Milan play very centerally in their attack and in turn are prone to defensive issues down their flanks. Didnt help Nesta especially and Silva had bad games.

While Hernanes was marked very wll and barely got involved, he was the only one because the deeper midfielders (for both teams actually) had a ton of time and space on the ball. Though credit Hernandes, because I am sure it was his good cross which Cisse converted from.

Overall, I found it a very entertaining match to watch and learnt some good lessons about both sides, but Milan especially.

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