Serie A delivered in December with plenty of football being
played including Serie A’s first ever Boxing day fixtures. Excellent goals,
surprise results and terrific football were witnessed throughout December. Juventus
continue to boss Serie A with Napoli and Inter lagging behind. Meanwhile Chievo
continue to prop up the league along with Frosinone and Bologna. December also
saw another two managers lose their jobs as the pressure to improve intensifies.
Another dominant month for Juventus with the Old Lady winning 5 of their 6 league games which
has seen their lead extend to 9 points at the top of the table. Cristiano Ronaldo
has firmly found his feet in Serie A notching important winning goals including
in his first Turin derby against Torino. 14 league goals in his first 19 league
games is impressive and has already become the highest scoring Portuguese international
in Serie A history. Max Allegri will be satisfied with their first half of the
season but will hope to maintain their unbeaten run going into 2019. Napoli also won 5 of their 6 league
games but suffered a defeat during December seeing Ancelotti’s men lose ground
at the top. Despite their struggles to keep up with Juventus, Ancelotti will be
pleased with his team’s performances and quality of football. If there is a
small glimmer of hope in the title race, they must have a strong 2019 to have
any chance of catching the Old Lady at the top. Inter meanwhile endured a mixed December winning three, drawing
twice and losing the once. Their indifferent December saw Spalletti’s team lose
ground on 2nd place Napoli with the gap now 5 points between the two
clubs. However, they finished 2018 strongly winning 3 of their last 4 and head
into 2019 full of confidence and optimism for the second half of the season.
However, Inter do have off field issues in with Radja Nainggolan. The Belgian
has yet to settle at Inter since his move from Roma in the summer and he has
been suspended by the club due to his behaviour off the pitch and things must
be sorted between both parties, so it doesn’t spread through the football club.
On his day Nainggolan is a class above the rest but must recapture his best to
get back on side with the manager and fans. There has been a real tussle
between Lazio and AC Milan for 4th
place and going into 2019, Lazio sit the final Champions League spot a point
clear of AC Milan. Both sides collected 9 points during December, so it is
status quo between the two clubs but there is a real fight ensuing for European
football with improvements from sides below them.
As stated above, Lazio and AC Milan have firm competition for
Champions League football after December was an excellent month for Roma, Sampdoria and Atalanta. Eusebio
Di Francesco’s Roma arguably had
their best month in terms of league form with Roma notching 11 points from
their 6 games which has seen close the gap on their city rivals Lazio to just two
points. They go into 2019 having won 3 of their last 4 games with their only
blemish being a defeat to Juventus. One of the goals of the season was scored
by Roma’s Nicolo Zaniolo who scored a delightful chip against Sassuolo. The
young midfielder is full of confidence as are many of his Roma teammates as
they charge towards the top 4. Meanwhile, Sampdoria
had an even better month with Marco Giampaolo’s team collecting 13 points from
their 6 games. Prior to their defeat against Juventus in their final game of
2018, Sampdoria had won 4 of their las 5 games and were unbeaten in six overall.
Fabio Quagliarella continues to deliver with the veteran striker notching 12
league goals already this campaign and is getting better and better even in the
twilight years of his career. Sampdoria head into 2019 just three points behind
the top 4 and will be confident they can crash the Champions League places. Another
side full of confidence is Atalanta
who after a very slow start to the season have firmly found their groove and
after a good December which saw them collect 10 points from their 6 games, they
head into 2019 just four behind the Champions League places. The form of
striker Duvan Zapata has massively improved with the Colombian striker notching
8 goals in their 6 league games during December having only scored 2 prior to
that. 3 wins from their last 5 games has given them firm confidence and belief
that they can gate crash the top 4 this season. Gianpiero Gasperini will be
aiming for at least the top 7 come May 2019.
The battle for all European football will be fascinating going into 2019
with just 7 points separating the sides from 4th to 12th.
However, not all sides enjoyed their December and two sides waved
goodbye to their managers in the run up to the festive period. First to go was
Ivan Juric at Genoa who only lasted
2 months in his third spell in the Genoa hot seat. A poor run for Juric saw not
win any league game and his final game was a humiliating Coppa Italia defeat to
Virtus Entella of Serie C. This defeat was a final straw and Genoa now find
themselves on their 3rd manager this season. His replacement is former
Fiorentina, Roma and Italy manager Cesare Prandelli. The likeable Italian
arrives at the club hoping to ignite their season once again. He inherits Genoa
in 14th place and so far in his 5 games in charge Prandelli has won
just one of his 5 games and has collected 5 points from 5 games. Genoa head
into the new year exactly where they started under Prandelli but with a comfortable
cushion on the relegation zone. Their sole aim will be to keep red hot striker
Krzysztof Piatek who have enjoyed a terrific start in Serie A scoring 13 league
goals. Cesare Prandelli will be aiming for improvement in the new year as he looks
to push Genoa towards the top half of the table. The other side to make the
change was Frosinone who sacked
Moreno Longo after a run of just 1 win in 16 league games and collected just 8
points from their 16 league games. Longo was given time after leading them to
promotion from Serie B but poor performances, no wins at home and a general
feeling of disappointment has seen him go. His replacement is Marco Baroni who
guided Benevento to promotion in 2017 but lasted just 10 Serie A games in that
season. Baroni is tasked with keeping Frosinone in the league but so far, no
change in fortunes with Frosinone not winning any of his first 3 games in
charge. A crucial defeat to Chievo in their final game of 2018 will not have
gone down well and things must improve in 2019. They start the new year 6 points
adrift of safety and they must find a win at home one way or another with only them
and Monaco without a home win in Europe’s top 5 leagues.
Bologna and Chievo
continue to find themselves stuck in the relegation zone. It’s been an extremely
disappointing spell so far for Filippo Inzaghi at Bologna having overseen just
2 league wins in his 19 league games in charge so far. They are 18th
with just 12 points amassed so far and are 4 points adrift of Udinese in 17th.
Goals and wins are in very short supply for Inzaghi’s team. However, some performances
have been spirited including their narrow 3-2 defeat away to Napoli where they
played brilliantly but their Achilles’ heel is keeping clean sheets in recent
weeks with 11 goals conceded in their 4 defeats in December. But they have proved
they can shut teams out with goalless draws against Parma and AC Milan so
clearly Inzaghi is struggling to balance attacking and defending in his team. January
is a big month for Bologna with the chance to add new players and get their
season up and running. They resume after the winter break with a crucial trip
to fellow strugglers Spal and its simply must win for Inzaghi otherwise patience
at the top could run out. Despite their worrying position, things are looking
up for Chievo who at the 19th time of asking secured their first league
win of the season beating Frosinone in a key six-pointer. Domenico Di Carlo has
turned their fortunes around having lost just once in his 7 games in charge.
They head into 2019 with more confidence but are 8 points adrift of safety and
must continue to win matches to get out of trouble. Their 3rd
manager of the season has certainly improved them as a team and are far more
difficult to break down and goals are slowly starting to flow once again. If Di
Carlo can keep them up it would certainly put him in manager of the season
contention.
December delivered and no doubt when Serie A resumes on the
18th January, it will bring more excitement, excellent goals and
more surprise results. The transfer window will also get into full swing with
teams allowed to make new additions to their squads. There are some tasty games
to come in January including Inter vs
Sassuolo, Roma vs Torino, Napoli vs Lazio, Fiorentina vs Sampdoria, AC Milan vs
Napoli, Atalanta vs Roma, Bologna vs Frosinone, Lazio vs Juventus and Torino vs
Inter. A fascinating month to come with key games both at the top and the
bottom but can anybody stop Juventus’ unbeaten league run in 2019? Only time
will tell.
No comments:
Post a Comment