The Weekly Serie A Round-Up:

Juventus predictably beat an Atalanta squad still looking for an identity. Napoli and Catania played a tough fought match, to a scoreless draw. Inter and Roma played to a 1 – 1 draw at the San Siro. Bari, Parma and Fiorentina all beat lesser opponents.

Now for the surprises of Week 12.

Palermo travelled north to Bologna and got beat by a more motivated Bolognese side which once again, puts Palermo coach Walter Zenga in hot water with the most trigger happy president Maurizio Zamparini. Zenga had dug himself out of the Zamparini doghouse after an improved Palermo started getting better results after a poor, unmotivated start.

Milan beat Lazio. This is only a surprise as, despite the early critics, Milan coach Leonardo has strung an impressive Serie A record together and are now in third place. Is this undefeated in 7 Serie A games, the same Milan team that got tossed in the air like pizza dough by their rival Inter earlier in the year? Despite their aging team, the unpredictable Ronaldinho and the disorganized offensive scheme, they seem to be winning the close games. A comeback from 2-0 down in Napoli, a couple of wins over upstarts Roma and Parma and now beating Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico. Let not forget their recent form in Champion’s League. It seems Leonardo is building a team with some character. It remains to be seen how long their luck will last however with the Christmas arrival of David Beckham and the potential selling of the unimpressive Huntelaar for the purchase of a striker such as Tottenham’s Roman Pavyluchenko, Milan’s recent form may continue well into 2010.

It was has to be considered the biggest surprise of week 12 is the rather easy defeat of Sampdoria at the hands of Cagliari. Cassano and Co rolled into the beautiful island of Sardinia in a bit of a daze. They were outplayed at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris by Serie A minnows Bari during a game which Cassano (and other Doria players) were whistled and booed at by the Doria faithful. Before the humbling Bari experience, Sampdoria failed a test of top-level clubs by losing with ease to a relatively mediocre playing Juventus side. This result at Cagliari now places them one step closer into the usual Serie A “crisis-mode”. Despite playing well during most of the season, there is already talk of Cassano wanted to leave, the Sampdoria coaching staff being sacked and January transfer period player changes. The usual stories that the much-exaggerated Italian media talk about once a team goes for a dip.

Look at Cagliari. After loosing 3 out of their first 4 games, the Isolani have now won 4 straight games, including victories against Genoa and Lazio. Coach Massimiliano Allegri has them playing each game full of confidence and this seems to translate into players believing they can beat anybody on any given day. The team plays a moderately attacking style and shifts mentality well during matches, depending on Allegri’s sideline communications. This ability seems to keep opponents off guard and allows them to play each game to win and as a result they only have one tie in 12 games. That tie coming 11 weeks ago at their season opener at Livorno. Experienced strikers Nene and Matri have been playing well and Cagliari will continue to look to those two to provide the bulk of the scoring. As a result of their good form, National team coach Marcello Lippi has rewarded attacking midfielder Davide Biondini with his first international cap, joining his teammate, goalkeeper Federico Marchetti.
The bad news for Cagliari is that despite them being full of confidence, their schedule gets difficult in a hurry. In their next 4 matches, they play Juventus, Napoli, Palermo and next week they travel to the San Siro to meet Leonardo’s rejuvenated Milan side.
The Serie A now takes a break as FIFA matches commence again. It will be fun, yet very predictable to see the Azzurri’s offensive struggles continue and Lippi having to face even more Antonio Cassano questions, which might not be possible.

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