If a criticism of Spalletti really needs to be made, it is that of his lack of imagination

The results of the 27th day of Serie A

Sampdoria-Verona 3-1 24′, 35′ Gabbiadini, 88′ Faraoni (V), 98′ Zanoli
Fiorentina-Lecce 1-0 27′ auto. Rooster
Turin-Naples 0-4 9′, Osimhen 51′, Kvaratskhelia 35′, Ndombele 68′
Lazio-Rome 1-0 65′ Zaccagni
Inter-Juventus 0-1 23′ Kostić
Sassuolo-Spezia 1-0 71′ pen. D. Berardi
Atalanta 2-1 Empoli 44′ Ebuehi (E), 58′ de Roon, 86′ Højlund
Monza-Cremonese 1-1 61′ Ciofani (C), 69′ Carlos Augusto
Salernitana-Bologna 2-2 7′ Pirola, 11′ Ferguson (B), 64′ Dia, 73′ Lykogiannis (B)
Udinese-Milan 3-1 9′ Pereyra, 45′ +4 pens. Ibrahimović, 45′ +6 Beto, 70′ Ehizibue

The Serie A standings after 27 days

Naples 71; Lazio 52; Inter 50; Milan 48; Rome 47; Atalanta 45; Juventus 41 (-15); Udinese 38; Fiorentina, Bologna and Turin 37; Sassuolo 36; Monza 34; Empoli 28; Lecce and Salernitana 27
Spice 24; Verona 19; Sampdoria 15; Cremona 13.

Because Naples doesn’t enjoy a surplus of imagination and doesn’t cut the canvas of the picture

If even the traditional Neapolitan superstition rightly goes to hell and already promises a double triumph, national (obvious) and continental in the newly minted preventive flags, it means that every paradigm used up to now to tell Naples 2022-2023 needs to be reviewed. The umpteenth test of authority in Turin – except for the central part of the first half, in which the grenades deserved a draw – cannot be explained only by the strength of Victor Osimhen or the class of Kvicha Kvaratskhelia. But in such perfection, he urgently needs to nitpick: the Tuscan coach, in his control, always makes the same changes. And all textual, free from appreciable tactical variations: Hirving Lozano for Matteo Politano and vice versa – with all their differences – then Juan Jesus for Kim Min-jae. Only Eljif Elmas is wildcard between insider and winger. Never a flicker, a slash from Pollock. Hence the appeal: Luciano, change something, have fun yourself and let us have fun! Lancia Gianluca Gaetano owner one day, give Bartosz Bereszyński a satisfaction, find a place for Tanguy Ndombele who will repay you, be generous with Leo Østigård… Try to defend a three-man, in a clearer way than is already the case. On the contrary, challenge Pep Guardiola with the new WM, get the full-backs to build the defense up front: you can afford everything. Will you do it after you win the Scudetto? Great calm…

Because Milan are already thinking about the quarter-finals of the Champions League, and why they shouldn’t

Since the draws for the European cups came out, there’s not a Milan fan who doesn’t wait for the date of Wednesday 12 April to camp out irrational ambitions for revenge against the Serie A masters. And yet, from what we saw on Saturday night Udine, the adrenaline should leave room for the desire to procrastinate that moment as much as possible: with these moonlights, the fans wonder, how will it be possible to face Napoli equipped only with the glorious European DNA? Taking the dreamy Rafael Leão, clearly in the clouds and looking for a position, messy and never unbalanced: what a difference, for one evening, with that Success Isaac who dribbles from a standstill like in a dancing Caribbean championship. Who is AC Milan’s penalty taker? And why not Bennacer? The Milan fans look to Beto and want him at the center of the attack when he struggles to maintain his level for mid-season. All lost? No, great calm: even at the Dacia Arena, every so often, a ray of sunshine. Brahim Diaz, when he wants, does what he wants. Or try to go on goal with the ball. A little bit, but if the Spanish-Moroccan elf finds the key to slipping into the defense and making his interpreters go crazy/warning, then Stefano Pioli could close the game and make the famous DNA shine.

Because Udinese poised in the future has never been so effective this year

Naturally if Milan has been reduced to the minimum terms, beyond their mistakes the credit goes above all to Udinese, never so brilliant this year for those who have seen them play more than once. Andrea Sottil’s team grows together in one game, overperforming so much as to tend to the bull against the Italian champions: we had noticed that it wasn’t always the usual when the game shirts appeared, shiny, intense, hyper-technological, mutants. The future, as beautiful as the 120th anniversary of the Cremonese club celebrated by a uniform without names or sponsors: other than the red lips above the Napoli estate, or the vintage exultation of the Bari dogs, reproduced in merchandising from the same property. To the north-east Kingsley Ehizibue explodes, Dr. Tolgay Arslan enters as a proto-specialist, a worker who knows he is a surveyor. And then Walace Souza Silva, who hides the ball from a standstill: everything is perfect, just to magnify. Except that two-thirds of the season has already gone, and – with the frenzied pace of Giampaolo Pozzo’s transfer market between Friuli and Watford – great calm that next year the zebrettes can start again from here. When instead building from the foundations is always more necessary than dismantling.

Because “those who exist” must be added algebraically to the disappeared

Walace, they said. For four years, up there, training (and certainly the transfer market) starts with him. He doesn’t stand out in his throws, he doesn’t create assists, he’s often even booked: yet an essential traffic light in front of the defence, a rare commodity even if Flamengo – already world champions – has seriously thought about it. He pairs up with Danilo D’Ambrosio, who in recent weeks has been reviewing the field both as an “arm in arm” and as a winger: they are the ones who are there, for an entire season, even when you don’t see them, even when you don’t see them on the pitch it feels. In space Walace, in time D’Ambrosio. But if it is true that even Romelu Lukaku is always there against Juve (away from the area), what about those who arrived with trumpet blasts last summer, and soon rejoiced: the first that comes to mind it is Marcos Antonio, who failed to take the reins of Lazio, excellently led on the pitch by Matías Vecino or Danilo Cataldi. But also Caleb Okoli, who soon disappeared from the Atalanta rotations, Kevin Bonifazi who doesn’t play in Bologna even when everyone is missing, or teammate Lorenzo De Silvestri and the captain of the national team, Leonardo Bonucci, reduced to giving indications from the bench. For all athletes placed on the margins of competition, planning their own redemption is not a difficult undertaking: some will redeem themselves here or elsewhere, great calm also for the newly promoted players who started with the ambition of maintaining ownership and who instead threw away (not always their fault) almost an entire season.

Because the back header was lost in translation and like to see it again in the flames

The weekend ended with bad pictures from the pitches. Fights with expelled players in Rome, Sergej Milinković-Savić who celebrates as after a goal for sending off an opponent; nervousness and mockery at San Siro, setting a bad example. It’s quick to say “it’s what you wouldn’t want to see”, but when tension builds up for a year or a week, then the plane is inclined and everyone pays the price. Milan weeps, Milan a metaphor for love, even Padua kills more: if Juve are virtually second by playing like this, the level of the tournament speaks for itself. Nevertheless great calm, in the meantime of Turin-Naples the revelation that turns the afternoon and takes football back to its possible, primordial dimension: a header backwards, in the middle of the penalty area, antilogical and mocking was about to bag behind the goalkeeper , who suddenly recovered his position and credulity. By now very few are seen, in the opponent’s area, and almost always crowning “bell towers”: when it happens, however, the fact leads to suspending one’s gaze in the air for one, two, three seconds in which everything is destined to happen, or to never happen. More back headers, please.