It’s still early days but Juventus are already asserting their dominance on the division, but Roma and Napoli notched up wins too which means they’re only a couple of points behind the current Serie A champions. AC Milan continue to struggle, while their crosstown rivals Inter are making progress and picked up their first win of the campaign in week 3 of the Serie A.
It was an intriguing week of Serie A action, all in all and we’ve picked out 5 talking points for you below:
1) Gonzalo Higuain thriving under pressure
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Gonzalo Higuain has been called a lot of names in the past month or so, from being overweight to a traitor to a big game bottler, the list goes on. The Argentine has responded in brilliant fashion though, choosing to do his talking on the pitch. He started with the winner against Fiorentina on the first matchday, and against Sassuolo he gave his best performance for his new team yet.
A magnificent volleyed goal after a precise angled finish essentially sealed the result for the Bianconeri at the Juventus stadium early on in the match and with 3 goals in 3 Serie A games already, Higuain has shown his exorbitant price tag and criticism isn’t affecting him in the slightest. If he continues to play like this, Juventus will fancy their chances of winning a lot of trophies this year.
2) Francesco Totti momentum invaluable to Roma
For all their flair and inventiveness, there still seems to be something flimsy about the DNA of the Roma team. They’ve struggled to assert themselves in some of their most important matches in recent times, and despite the personalities in their dressing room, find their heads going down when the going gets tough on the pitch.
It’s been several times now in the recent past that they’ve had to turn to their eternal marvel Francesco Totti to bail them out, and that was the case again in their match against Sampdoria at the Stadio Olimpico.
Totti came on to play a gorgeous ball to Edin Dzeko and then stepped up in the 90th minute to bury a penalty but Luciano Spalletti should really be asking himself why the rest of his team isn’t stepping up in crucial moments.
3) Napoli attack can share goalscoring burden
There’ve been a lot of questions on how Napoli can/will cope without Higuain, and as we’re getting more of a look at how they’re playing this year, it appears less that they’ll look to a single player to score a goal a game like the Argentine but instead rely on goals from their whole team. Jose Callejon got his second brace of the season against Palermo, with Marek Hamsik also getting on the scoresheet.
Maurizio Sarri’s team are well drilled in creating space on the pitch and attack in droves, and if the likes of Callejon, Hamsik, Arkadiusz Milik, Lorenzo Insigne and Manolo Gabbiadini can all get 10+ goals this year, the absence of Higuain won’t be felt so much.
4) Milan haven’t reinforced in any key position
It’s been a while now that Milan fans have had to get used to mid-table mediocrity, but this summer brought with it a lot of optimism that just hasn’t filtered through. The takeover has complicated things but the fact is that none of the players new coach Vincenzo Montella really wanted, arrived.
And considering how reasonable his targets were in players like Piotr Zielinski, Leandro Paredes, Milan Badelj, Mateo Musacchio and Juan Cuadrado, it’s really shambolic that Milan were able to land up none of them.
Spending valuable sums on Jose Sosa, Gianluca Lapadula and Gustavo Gomez when it would appear they aren’t the players Milan critically needs is gross mismanagement at a time Montella still has to instill the shoddy Riccardo Montolivo at the center of his midfield.
The lack of creativity and inventiveness was on display against Udinese too, as the latter became another side to nick a victory at the San Siro.
5) Frank de Boer needs to find his best 11, fast
There’s no doubting that Inter Milan have a great squad at this moment of time. The Nerazzurri now have a variety of options in midfield and attack, and that means Frank De Boer isn’t going to be given too much levee in beginning to get the results the squad deserves.
Gabigol (Gabriel Barbosa) will be joining up with the team in the coming days as well, and while De Boer’s stunt of sending on three forwards at the same time in the match against Pescara ultimately paid off with a 2-1 win, he needs to make sure his team asserts himself enough in the match for that to not become a norm.
Keeping everyone happy isn’t going to be an easy task for the Dutchman as well, though the Europa League will help him give his entire roster some playing time.
