A beautiful Serie A round to watch

The results of the 13th matchday of Serie A

Udinese-Lecce 1-1 (33rd Colombo, 68th Beto)

Empoli 1-0 Sassuolo (64th Baldanzi)
Salernitana-Cremonese 2-2 (3rd Piatek, 12th Okereke, 38th Coulibaly, 89th Ciofani)
Atalanta 1-2 Napoli (19th Lookman, 23rd Osimhen, 35th Elmas)
Milan-Spezia 2-1 (21st Hernandez, 59th Maldini, 89th Giroud)
Bologna-Turin 2-1 (26th Lukic, 64th Orsolini, 73rd Posch)
Sampdoria-Fiorentina 0-2 (4th Bonaventura, 58th Milenkovic)
Monza-Verona 2-0 (68th Carlos Augusto, 90th Colpani)
Roma-Lazio 0-1 (29th Felipe Anderson)
Juventus 2-0 Inter (52nd Rabiot, 84th Fagioli)

The Serie A ranking after the 13th matchday

Naples 35; Milan 29; Lazio and Atalanta 27; Juventus and Roma 25; Inter 24; Udinese 23; Salernitana and Turin 17; Fiorentina and Bologna 16; Sassuolo 15; Empoli 14; Monza 13; Lecce and Spezia 9; Cremonese and Sampdoria 6; Hellas Verona 5

Because football played and football perceived are fundamentally two different things

As in the summer months, when the concept of perceived heat reigns in the media (“you know, the humidity”), perceived football is in force in the narrative of the Serie A 2022-2023. An example? The role of Miretti in the last two games, with the drafters of the probable formations that place him alone close to Milik – meaning that Juve presents itself in front of Inter with only the top Pole – while then, at the moment practical, the Piedmontese talent is nothing more than a cog in the crowd of midfielders called to roam the pitch throughout the first half in search of inspiration. Another example? Giroud that everyone loves for the sportsman he is, until the liberating moment when he takes off his shirt after a decisive goal at the last minute, and the sentiment it suddenly becomes negative even among the beneficiaries (and the fantasy-beneficiaries) of its network. There where the great calm it is an obsolete concept in freeze-dried football, here and now we are with those who are not yet, but soon (or later) it could be, perhaps going through defeats. We are with Cremonese who always plays and drags everyone to play against her, up to 2-2. We are with the Montevago who are given a chance and with the Trimboli who still have to wait. With sarrismo, but also with sarrismo that comes out of itself to win the derby. With the eternal unfinished ones like El Shaarawy and with the Felipe Andersons who could have had much more, we want the impulses and thrusts of Kouamé emerged from oblivion, Vicar in goal and not outgoing, and all the other stories of a championship returned beautiful to see.

Because Napoli does not make news for the real reason of its successes, founded a year ago

Many and many were waiting for Napoli at the Bergamo crossing, facing the most continuous opponent up to now, and without the genius rubbed by the Georgian lamp. With some difficulties, but not without merit (ah, the merit), Spalletti also breaks down this and pushes the limits of a complex that today appear infinite even further. There are those who complain that too little is being talked about this extraordinary team: if anything it happens for the most obvious reasons – the offensive excessive power of Osimhen, the substitutes who do not make us regret the initial owners, Zielinski at his levels, Mario Rui in overperformance – and not for what, day after day, is the cornerstone of the post Mertens and Insigne project. That is the activity of scouting which allowed, well before any other competitors and without rising prices, to find Kim Min-Jae in the Turkish championship and Kvicha Kvaratskhelia in the chaos of the Russian season. A Korean and a Caucasian, coming from football schools and second-third tier leagues, both having their first absolute experience in Serie A, together with the others (but excelling in their specific context) set the rules for an entire championship. The Napoli of ds Giuntoli hit the champions while they are becoming: neither too early, when they could reserve precocious burns, nor too late when the emirs of PSG or City can put unattainable figures on the plate. Whether in the months of stalking, Hemingway model in the lagoon, the great calm who wins the Scudetto?

Because it’s the people who make history when it comes to choosing and going

Football travels on men’s legs. Daniel Maldini’s goal at San Siro against Milan of his legendary father (manager in the stands) and of his grandfather cup captain was written in the great book of history. Arnautović dragged the ailments up to the 96th minute, physically and mentally on the ball with racing and rabone despite his advantage exempting him. Roberto Pereyra moved to the left is much more dangerous, returning to the shot, Ehizibue that discovery, the unprecedented Udinese trident scoring at the first opportunity (“eu estou aqui” in Lusitanian heritage). Lookman has already taken all of Atalanta, including penalties, Sernicola on the trail of Hakimi and Dumfries as a masked striker, Krunić and Carlos Augusto’s olives ripened at the right moment. And then there is poor Ibanez, the new Paolo Negro on the opposite side of the memes stuck for life. Now the hyper-compressed midweek day (starting on Tuesday) and the turnover they will undertake to deny the protagonists and overturn the hierarchies, in perfect logic great calmlike when Guardiola, Nagelsmann, water polo and ice hockey push the back lines forward while the avant-gardes return.

Because this week’s good football is the result of successive approximations

So many good games, it was said, finally. This is the week of love for the championship, which is about to eclipse two long months (but no one would ever want to derogate from the exceptional): even Monza-Verona, in the first half as dull as the yellow jersey of the guests, opened in the second half and redeemed. There is a desire to play, to challenge each other tactically, to take out the arm and double on the fifth: the 3-5-2 redesigns the nomenclature of football, as the method and the WM launched the mid-half and the quadrilateral. The coaches are aware that never as this year the results can come for rough tests, falling and getting up, reviewing their own beliefs based on the squad and the sliding doors: who keeps great calm waits and resolves, whoever improvises – even if desperate and tempted to overturn everything – is postponed to the next quarter. Hoping that it will bring with it the stop to the loneliness of the center forward, it seems only to the praised one of the goalkeeper (“I’m part of the party too”, Saba agrees): how much easier it is to get to the goal if two attackers play close together, yes do they look for and exchange the ball even inside the area?

Because the future of Italian football will be understood from the pitched struggle between Generation Z and “senators”

The two summit meetings on Sunday set their responses. Roma are not ready yet, they develop but do not break through, and Lazio enjoy an epic evening without Sergej Milinković-Savić and Immobile, legitimizing the victory with a test of remarkable concentration and frank technique. Juve suffered the whips of Inter in the first half, shrinking inside the shirts with an interrupted photocopy, but Inter frayed in the second half, revealing limits in the bands and in the changes, beyond the episodes. During the World Cup the panacea market will go crazy, in the meantime the debutants theme will take center stage: from Volpato to Iling Junior, from Baldanzi to Colombo, this week the Juventus brood is back on the shields. Who pays for the pitched battle with the “senators” ready to renew the contract, willing to do anything to not give the field to those who do not want to end up as expats. Or at least, not immediately. The speech is suggestive, because it says a lot about the ability of Italian football to regenerate, to give confidence, to attribute responsibility as happens abroad; or instead perpetuate traditions, get by on income, make the seniority of the barons. European draws in hand, the ability to make continental opponents eat pasta and beans again passes from these arguments, not to end up becoming the luxury gerontocomio of the Fàbregas at the end of their career.