Even though five matches aren’t enough to tell us how the season in the Serie A will unfold, it is quite shocking to see AS Roma perfect up until now, while nothing is surprising about Juventus and Napoli looks solid, confident and undefeated, while the problems at AC Milan, a club that’s great only by name, shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.
The big story early in the season seems to be Roma, a club that sold two of its best players during the summer (Marquinhos and Erik Lamela), but is currently thriving under Rudi Garcia. It’s not just winning, but they’re also playing the most enjoyable-to-watch football in the league.
Their latest win is a 2-0 victory in Genoa over the terrible Sampdoria, three days after a win in the Rome Derby. So far it’s hard to point a finger at one specific player that’s the cause of all this, but it’s easy to figure out Daniele de Rossi and Francesco Totti are a huge part of this newly found success after two rough seasons. Adem Ljajic, purchased from Fiorentina, would be the MVP for now with two goals so far.
Napoli no longer being perfect isn’t such a shock as well. At some point, Rafa Benitez was going to have and start using some sort of rotation. Not because his players are tired, but because he simply can’t help it. Napoli disrespected Sassuolo, and were punished for it in the 1-1 draw. Unlike Juventus, they can’t afford to have too many players from their strongest lineup start the match on the bench, even if it’s against a team that up until now didn’t get a single point.
Juventus? You never expect fireworks from the Bianconeri. It’s always hard fought wins, with frustrating misses. Having a midfield that dominates against almost everyone isn’t enough. Antonio Conte is making a change in the striker duo every match, and that might not be the best way to find some cohesion and consistency from the group. However, not having Arturo Vidal on the pitch was the main reason Juventus struggled in Verona against Chievo, always a very tough outing.
AC Milan are turning into a joke. They did come back from 3-1 down against Bologna, but it seems that beyond Mario Balotelli, there isn’t much this team can give us in terms of high quality. Andrea Poli will be a great player, but he’s not right now. But it’s hard to find creativity or a spark on this team, unless Allegri stars using the wonderful M’baye Niang more and more to make up for an insanely dull midfield.