{"id":517431,"date":"2019-09-04T09:49:38","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T13:49:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonfootball.com\/?p=517431"},"modified":"2019-09-04T09:49:38","modified_gmt":"2019-09-04T13:49:38","slug":"serie-a-matchday-two-giorgio-chiellini-inter-milan-threat-ac-milans-formation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2019\/09\/04\/serie-a-matchday-two-giorgio-chiellini-inter-milan-threat-ac-milans-formation\/","title":{"rendered":"Serie A Matchday Two: Giorgio Chiellini, Inter Milan Threat, AC Milan&#8217;s Formation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Serie A matchday two is in the books, and it has set an interesting script for the rest of the season. There was an electric game in <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonfootball.com\/clubs\/juventus\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Juventus<\/a> versus Napoli, an underwhelming<em> Derby della Capitale<\/em>, and solid showings by the Milanese giants.<\/p>\n<h2>Serie A Matchday Two: What We Learned<\/h2>\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/e85fb9b8\/Giorgio-Chiellini?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Giorgio Chiellini<\/a>&#8216;s Injury Will Be Detrimental<\/h3>\n<p>The\u00a0<em>Bianconero<\/em> captain, <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/e85fb9b8\/Giorgio-Chiellini\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Giorgio Chiellini<\/a>,\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/soccer\/juventus\/story\/3931629\/chiellini-tears-acl-during-training-set-for-surgery\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fell to a torn ACL injury<\/a> during training last Friday, days before the Napoli match up. Juventus took an early 3-0 lead in the game, but Napoli clawed back with three goals in quick succession. Juventus ultimately won due to an unfortunate <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/da974c7b\/Kalidou-Koulibaly\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kalidou Koulibaly<\/a> own-goal, but nonetheless flaws were shown in the defence.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/52ec54d0\/Leonardo-Bonucci\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Leonardo Bonucci<\/a> will continue to be a veteran presence, but Juventus will have to rely heavily on youth like <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/d6e53a3a\/Matthijs-de-Ligt\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matthijs de Ligt<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/14b8fcdf\/Daniele-Rugani\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Daniele Rugani<\/a>. Although De Ligt broke out last season, he&#8217;s still adjusting to a new team and atmosphere. Rugani, on the other hand, has not shown signs of reliability. With an improved Inter Milan squad and Champions League yet to start, Chiellini&#8217;s will greatly affect Juventus&#8217; dreams of silverware this season.<\/p>\n<h3>Inter Milan Can Be a Scudetto Threat<\/h3>\n<p>Juventus have reigned supreme in Serie A the past several seasons, with Napoli consistently being their biggest threat. Matchday two, however, showed us early that Inter may have what it takes to go all the way. Yet to play with a full squad, Inter travelled to Sardinia to beat Cagliari, just a week after trashing Lecce.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/5eae500a\/Romelu-Lukaku\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Romelu Lukaku<\/a> was a great addition to the team and allowed them to rid themselves of a perennial headache in <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/43b78598\/Mauro-Icardi\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mauro Icardi<\/a>. Lukaku has adjusted well so far, notching two goals in two games. <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/fc4f85b1\/Diego-Godin\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Diego God\u00edn<\/a> will bring veteran savvy to an already strong defence, while the midfield saw an entire shakeup.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/2c0f8e9e\/Alexis-Sanchez\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alexis Sanch\u00e9z<\/a> is waiting to debut. This deal represents a low-risk, high-reward, as he is just there on loan. Antonio Conte&#8217;s brilliant management should keep the <em>Nerazzurri<\/em> in the thick of things all season long.<\/p>\n<h3>AC Milan Have yet to Figure out a Formation<\/h3>\n<p>The\u00a0<em>Rossoneri<\/em> and Marco Giampaolo were committed all summer long to a 4-3-1-2 formation switch. Although <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonfootball.com\/clubs\/ac-milan\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Milan<\/a> saw great success with this in their golden years, the formation has gone somewhat extinct in modern football. Perhaps it was evident why in Milan&#8217;s season opener, where they look completely lost in a 1-0 defeat to Udinese.<\/p>\n<p>Serie A matchday two saw a switch in formation for Milan, as the team went out with a 4-3-2-1. This formation fits the squad better. <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/4e219ad2\/Suso\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Suso<\/a>, Milan&#8217;s most creative player, is best on the right wing and not in the middle. The Spaniard&#8217;s play typically dictates the team&#8217;s attacking success, so naturally he needs to be set up to succeed.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/536cebe5\/Ante-Rebic\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ante Rebi\u0107<\/a> arrives in Milan with plenty of fanfare after a deadline deal. Rebi\u0107 positioning on the left wing is a great complement to Suso and <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/17f3620a\/Krzysztof-Piatek\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Krzysztof Pi\u0105tek<\/a>. Pi\u0105tek needs others to create around him, making the 4-3-2-1 formation an overall better idea.<\/p>\n<h3>Final Serie A Matchday Two Thoughts<\/h3>\n<p>Juventus are still the team to beat, even without Chiellini. Inter, however, have concluded a fantastic transfer market and are the most improved team in the league.<\/p>\n<p>Napoli remain a threat. <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/a69e4806\/Hirving-Lozano\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hirving Lozano<\/a> will be a major attacking threat, while <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/c707411f\/Kostas-Manolas\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kostas Manolas<\/a> and Koulibaly will continue to improve. Juventus, Inter, and Napoli look like clear-cut top three, while those in competition for fourth have yet to make an early, but convincing, case.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: Roboto,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1165228822\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.66667% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/1165228822?et=e09a0jWlQihZM1e9zGQoXQ&amp;tld=co.uk&amp;sig=vt4Ae5OnqOa2l9ML7m4txl6Sn4FtxUCrsEOxXfs5eCQ=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Serie A matchday two has come to a conclusion after a round filled with excitment and turnaround. The lessons learned will play a major role for the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2248,"featured_media":517889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1363,2,1830,1362,5],"tags":[49,381,1627,674,323,1988,895,299,48,3065,136],"class_list":["post-517431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ac-milan","category-featured","category-injuries","category-juventus","category-serie-a","tag-ac-milan","tag-alexis-sanchez","tag-giorgio-chiellini","tag-inter-milan","tag-juventus","tag-matthijs-de-ligt","tag-napoli","tag-romelu-lukaku","tag-serie-a","tag-suso","tag-world-football"],"modified_by":"Declan Wiseman, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2248"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}