Sunday 12 September 2010

Round Two Review: Inter and Lazio register first wins, Juve, Milan and Roma struggle

A topsy turvey round of Serie A action has given us a topsey turvey table to look at and digest this evening. Inter kicked the round off and grinded out a win against Udinese in a performance that was reminiscent of many of their home wins last season. Udinese were difficult to break down but Lucio did just that after a corner was not cleared in the early going. However, the big Brazilian was at fault when Floro Flores headed past Julio Cesar to level the game in the first half. Inter began to turn on the style after the break with Sneijder pulling the strings and the pressure proved dividends when Inter were awarded a penalty. Eto'o missed but converted the rebound and it was enough to give them their first three points of the season.

Three points was exactly what Lazio achieved Sunday afternoon in dispatching of Bologna 3-1 without injured hit man Sergio Floccari. The first half proved a frustrating affair for the aquilotti as they struggled to break down Bologna who put everyman and their dog behind the ball. However, a well worked move between Brocchi, Rocchi and Mauri opened up the Bologna back line to allow Mauri to score. Rocchi added to this lead not long after with a wonderful lob, although former Laziale Gabi Mudingayi put a spanner in the works with a superb strike from 25 yards. This raised the tension somewhat but deep in injury time Lazio were awarded a penalty which new recruit Hernanes duly converted.

Three points however was something that Milan, Roma and Juve did not obtain in this round. Juve came close against Sampdoria in a 3-3 draw after taking the lead on two occasions but the away side showed why they finished 4th last season by showing character to level. Milan, despite showing character and endeavour especially through Alex Pato, crashed in a fairytale game for Cesena who absorbed everything Milan to take three points. It is fair however to comment that nothing went Milan's way in this one, including the two disallowed goals and penalty miss. They will need to respond against Catania next week. Roma however were destroyed, going down 5-1 in Cagliari to put an early dent in their title challenge. With one point in the bag it does however remain statistically a better start than last season for them.

Elsewhere Chievo stunned the Genoa tifosi by handing Genoa a 3-1 beating in the marassi, coming from a goal behind. Palermo could not register their first win of the season as Brescia picked up three points with Eder's strike being the pick of the goals in that one. Fiorentina crashed down South in Lecce 1-0 thanks to a Davide Di Michele strike that ensured all of last seasons promoted teams from Serie B picked up three points.

Tonight, Napoli face Bari in the hostile stadio San Paolo in what is sure to be a good game.

No comments:

Post a Comment