Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
I can announce a new signing at RealFootballMan in the form of Filippo Festuccia. Filippo get in touch with me and offered to write some Italian Football articles. Filippo has been signed until the end of the season with a view to a permanent transfer in the Summer. You can follow him on Social Media here
@FilippoFest
Filippo’s first offering is a preview of this Weekend’s Serie A action so over to you Filippo.
A long-distance title battle, a tense relegation fight, fairytales clashing with each other, a derby and the much desidered Champions League qualification at stake: it’s Serie A, day 26, kicking off on Friday night with table leader Juventus going on a trip to Bologna on top of a stunning winning streak.
Juventus are the team to beat – they have been for the past four seasons, and they got back at the top this year with an amazing comeback after a rocky start. It will not, however, be an easy game for the Old Lady: Bologna suffered a similar fate at the beginning of the season, but since Donadoni replaced Delio Rossi as manager few teams did better than them. In the last 8 games, Bologna have 4 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses, thanks to a solid defence averaging 0.8 goals conceded per game (improving on their season average of 1.24) and an inventive offensive line with Mounier and former Juventus player Giaccherini supporting Mattia Destro.Juventus will have to mantain focus on the league before their make-it-or-break-it Champions League match against Bayern Munchen, but if there’s one thing this team has it’s winning mentality. Wonderkid Rugani will start, as well as more established young talents such as Pogba and Dybala, and a few key players such as Bonucci, Mandzukic and Khedira will rest.
Napoli led the table until last week, when they lost against Juventus, and now they have to keep their momentum going in a tricky Monday night match against AC Milan. Coach Sarri has chosen not to field Higuain (24 goals in 24 league appearances this season) in the Europa League match against Villarreal, to keep him fresh and focused on Napoli’s surprising league challenge, but such a tough match played on a Thursday will leave a mark on the squad. AC Milan are in great shape – they have climbed the ranks and are now a mere 2 points behind city rivals Inter – but Napoli has the highest goal tally in Serie A and the Devils’ defending has been spotty at times, despite monumental efforts by 21-year-old centre-back Alessio Romagnoli. While they seem to have found a new balance, conceding one less goal than Napoli in the last 8 games, Milan now has to focus on the offense: only Colombian striker Carlos Bacca has scored more than 10 goals so far.
Two matches will be featured on Saturday. The Verona derby between Hellas and Chievo (kickoff at 5 pm GMT) will be thrilling: if Hellas loses, they can say goodbye to any hope of avoiding relegation, while a loss for Chievo could mean being trapped in the relegation fight as well. Expect a tough, nervous Italian match, between two teams that do not play stylish football. Saturday night’s main event sees Inter and Sampdoria clash, and it looks like the right game for Inter to get back on track. The Mancini-led team lost its identity and good form despite leading Serie A for a few months, and it has now fallen 4 points behind a Champions League playoff spot; Sampdoria, however, is freefalling, with only 5 points scored in the last 8 games and some serious defensive issues, with 17 goals conceded (averaging more than 2 per game). No team is doing worse than Sampdoria, right now, and coach Vincenzo Montella doesn’t look like he has a solution ready.
Sunday sees a few mostly inconsequential bouts – will Carpi beat Torino, giving new hope to their desperate survival campaign? Will Frosinone pull out a miracle win against Lazio, catching up with Sampdoria? Will Genoa and Udinese realize that they are way too good for the relegation fight, despite only being a few points clear of 18th-placed Frosinone? – and three interesting matchups. At 2 pm GMT, Fiorentina takes on Atalanta, only a few days after a critical Europa League fixture against Tottenham: a drop in form could cast doubt and insecurity on Fiorentina, despite a stellar season so far, and the fight for the Champions League playoffs is unforgiving. Meanwhile, the two fairytales Sassuolo and Empoli will clash against each other, in a match that promises to offer fast-paced, well-played football between two young teams that soared high this season – they’re respectively 8th and 9th in the table, despite a significantly smaller budget compared to the competition.
Finally, Sunday night is the moment of truth for AS Roma: they’re on a winning streak and they come from a strong – albeit losing – showing against Spanish giants Real Madrid in the Champions League Round of 16, but they will find in Palermo a tough team clinging to their Serie A spot under returning coach Iachini, who came back just a few days ago after being sacked by team owner Massimo Zamparini in November. Iachini was doing quite well this season and the team lost many positions without him, but now that he is back the team might improve again.
The full list of fixtures:
Friday, February 19
Bologna-Juventus 19:45 GMT
Saturday, February 20
Hellas Verona-Chievo Verona 17:00 GMT
Inter-Sampdoria 19:45 GMT
Sunday, February 21
Atalanta-Fiorentina 14:00 GMT
Genoa-Udinese 14:00 GMT
Sassuolo-Empoli 14:00 GMT
Torino-Carpi 14:00 GMT
Frosinone-Lazio 17:00 GMT
Roma-Palermo 19:45 GMT
Monday, February 22
Napoli-Milan 20:00 GMT
Thanks Filippo, make sure to keep an eye out for his review early next week and subsequent articles between now and the end of the season.
If you would like to have any content posted on here then please feel free to contact me at realfootballmanwordpress@gmail.com and hopefully we can get something of yours up as well.
