In Italy, we can fortunately take refuge in a football that rife with strong tensions, especially among the coaches, protagonists of senseless raids, (see Juric), but does not generate dramas of this magnitude.
The cover image is again, Inter, defeated by Roma at the Meazza after having taken the lead, as has already happened on two other occasions. This is unquestionably a crisis. Only Inzaghi would try to tell a different story by talking about the ‘best performance of the season’. But who is he trying to fool? For the fans, this team is ‘unpresentable’.
The managers, grappling with complicated governance, say they still have faith in him, but this is not true. In practice they have given him the '8 days', postponing any decision to after the meetings with Barcelona and Sassuolo.
In eight days the Nerazzurri have lost four games, as many as in the last championship, they have scored nine goals less than the same period a year ago, they have conceded two more: in the championship they are eight points from the top, in the Champions League they are in great trouble.
One has the impression that Inzaghi has lost leadership of the team. But who could possibly take his place? At the moment the most popular choice is Stankovic, who has left Stella Rossa; who knows all the corners of Appiano Gentile and costs the right amount. But is he the right candidate?
On the contrary, Mourinho, the most beloved coach of the Nerazzurri fan base, has achieved particular satisfaction on the pitch, where he helmed a resounding success 12 years ago. Dybala is the added value of this Roma side, he who seemed destined for Inter. But the cumbersome presence of Correa, strongly desired by Inzaghi, prevented the arrival of the Argentine. And now the Portuguese coach is rebuilding an important formation, focusing in particular on Pellegrini, Cristante, Abraham, Dybala, Smalling and Zaniolo. We will see how far he can get on charisma alone.
In the meantime, Napoli and Atalanta's run continues. Spalletti's men, renewed by Giuntoli, defeated Torino with three goals in 37 minutes: in doing so, they won for the sixth time in a row, including the Champions League commitments, and are looking ambitiously towards the Scudetto.
Uh oh― the same thing happened in the last championship when they were scoring in this same round. But today's team looks stronger, more complete and more motivated than last time. This time there’s no breakaway players like Insigne, Ruiz and Koulibaly.
At the same level is Gasperini's Dea, who gave up territorial supremacy to Fiorentina yesterday but kept the 3 points. This is a profoundly different Atalanta from the one that had impressed us with spectacular yet vacuous images at the same time. This one is not quite as brilliant, but defends better, especially at home, and pays more attention to the essentials: the 3 goals against prove it. Who knows if either of this terrible pair can emulate Leicester, surprise winners of a historic Premier League under Ranieri.
Behind the leaders, is the duo formed by AC Milan and Lazio. However, the recent plot is different. The Rossoneri won in Empoli thanks to a gift from the referee (see the throw-in that propitiated the first goal) and the triggers of Leao, overflowing, man-assist and man-goal.
Heavy, however, were the injuries to Saelemaekers (long out with a collateral problem), Kjaer and Calabria, which were added to those of Maignan and Rodriguez. For Sarri's men, who were on their third consecutive victory, the second in a row by a 4-0 score-line, the engagement with Spezia was a formality despite the penalty missed by Immobile at the start.
