Football, at the very least, is a game that relentlessly surprises me. Well, quite often anyway. As leagues all across the globe have got underway again, my pupils are constantly zooming in on balmy results from fixtures that should have been largely mundane on paper. The Premier League has kicked off with a mighty thud, with table topping teams looking less familiar than the usual stereotypical beasts of the division.
Albeit with seemingly less controversy surrounding transfers in and out, the Serie A has started in a remarkably punchy way as well, with Roma seeping through all of the necessary gaps to finally reach the pinnacle of success. With Juventus suddenly crashing down to second, the end of the third match week dramatically shook up the league standings.
1) Roma
Where do I begin? What a sterling season so far; Rudi Garcia will be pleased. As the second match week drew to an end, Roma were yet again clinging to second place, which was by no means a shoddy achievement. The Serie A has barely begun and Francesco Totti et al. are looking devilishly sharp. Despite Daniele De Rossi acquiring a nasty knock, ruling him out for the foreseeable with the burden of injury, Roma enjoyed a ridiculously easy 2-0 win against Cagliari, with Mattia Destro and Alessandro Florenzi cleaning up without a fuss, within a matter of minutes. These two chaps have been flawless (well, let’s not quibble about a few yellow cards) for the Roman club; assets to Garcia’s side.
2-0 against my absolute favourite, Mario Gomez, and team, Fiorentina, left Roma’s first week looking pretty glistening; whilst Empoli’s own goal disaster allowed Roma to casually waltz away with 1-0 in the bag. Since Gervinho’s arrival last season, his reign of terror against the other Italian teams has been phenomenal to watch, and it was his efforts during the Fiorentina game that assisted his side further. Seydou Keita is another to show a lot of potential, along with oldies but goodies, Totti and De Rossi, mopping up where possible.
Roma’s bid for the trophy has gone swimmingly so far, and I fail to think they will part with their designs on the top spot without a fight (knowing their history of post-match violence, I could accidentally mean this quite literally).
2) Juventus
For the first couple of weeks, the black and white stripes of Juventus were looking rather regiment at the top of the league table. In what appears to be some form of resurgence, and also a giggle in the faces of the Argentine squad, Carlos Tévez has been instrumental for the side.
In their opening match, Chievo forfeited a win thanks to an unfortunate own goal, which put Juventus ahead instantly. Their reluctance to bow down to the threat of Roma continued in the second week; 2-0 against Udinese was secured by Mr. Tévez himself, along with Claudio Marchisio’s added scoring ability. Despite Tévez’s goal for his side against Milan (the score tallying up at 1-0 only), Massimiliano Allegri’s boys dropped down a place, and will undeniably aim to run riot against Cesena to remedy their bad turn of the previous week.
3) Verona
Finding a place that seemed far away at the end of the second week, Verona usurped Milan’s place, which didn’t present itself as something particularly likely. However, relying of course upon other teams changing their own fate during games, their 1-0 victory against Torino gave them their new space.
Their campaign hasn’t been entirely thrilling, with their initial game against Atalanta coming out as a nil-nil draw; whilst attempt number two against Palermo was more comforting. Luca Toni’s successful strike and yet another own goal from an opposing side put Verona at 2-1 by the final whistle. Despite a lack of household names in the team to validate their current position, Verona are doing nicely after just a few weeks. Additionally, the spritely, fast-paced young Uruguayan, Nicolás López, appears to harbour the sort of potential necessary for Verona to develop further.
4) Milan
Although they were looking rather good for a period, Milan are another team to drop with a thump after the third week finished. Despite Juventus now hauled down a notch too, their 1-0 win over Milan certainly didn’t bode well with the once-holding-third-place club. Initially, it was their 3-1 glory against Lazio that earned them a great top five spot; the game included a belter from Jérémy Ménez, who has started his season in an incredible fashion. Whether it’s goals or assists, Frenchman Ménez poses a brilliant threat to the opposition, and has also been tipped as the key to Fernando Torres’ revival.
A stonking 5-4 to Milan was another favourable game for the side; Parma could obviously hold their own, but just not enough to steal the win. Two in the net from Jérémy Ménez, as well as one from Nigel de Jong, saw the game eventually chalk up to a total of five for the club. They are charging forth quite rapidly, but just not able to tightly grasp medal territory.
5) Udinese
For around five consecutive seasons, the inexorable Antonio Di Natale has smashed goal after goal into various teams’ nets, and presented himself as the talisman for fans to behold. His decision to postpone retirement (obviously something that Italian footballers aim to put off as many times as humanly plausible) has already aided his team in many ways, and so their current place at fifth could progress to something better.
Di Natale’s two goals against Empoli in week one earned Udinese their simple 2-0 accomplishment, whilst their Serie A bid the following week was less satisfying. Udinese were on the receiving end of a 2-0 conquest, which led them to a spot well below fifth. However, although they aren’t perhaps the most willing team in the league, the most recent game week saw them soar up a gear. A single goal from Danilo was enough to put them up a few plots.
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