Serie A Review: 5 Things We Learnt from Week 14

Jack Alexandros RathbornDec 13, 2011

This week Serie A was packed with action, as normal, but also had moments of controversy.

The referee was at the centre of attention in the Bologna-Milan game, as Zlatan Ibrahimovic earned a penalty through diving.

The referee, Gianluca Rocchi, was in deep water again for awarding the penalty as he was in the Inter Milan-Napoli game earlier in the season when he awarded the away team a penalty for a foul outside the box and sent off poor Joel Obi for two yellow-card offenses, when the first was the cleanest of tackles.

Speaking of referee controversies, it is true to say they are not forgotten quickly in the Peninsula.

Take the Roma-Juventus rivalry, for example, from last night. The passion from the fans was developed 30 years ago in 1981 when Roma's Maurizio Turone's goal was wrongly disallowed by the referee to keep the Bianconeri above the Giallorossi and go on to claim the Scudetto with just two games remaining.

So let's delve in to this week's happenings in the world of Calcio.

Genoa: Malesani's Flexible Tactics Finally Delivering Results for Rossoblu

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Alberto Malesani has always been under pressure since the beginning of the season and just a couple of poor results back-to-back have brought out whispers that president Enrico Preziosi has been tempted to wield the axe.

Malesani has always inspired his team to vital wins at crucial moments to force the president to have more patience and this week might just have been another one.

After back-to-back losses to Cesena and Milan, the side entered the game at Novara in desperate need of points and the players delivered to the delight of the sizable travelling contingent of fans from Liguria.

Malesani deserves credit for experimenting with his tactics and being flexible with different players, handing opportunities to many of the fringe players when results have not been perfect.

We have seen that Giandomenico Mesto is a vital piece in Malesani's plans as his flexibility to fit in at right-back in a traditional 4-4-2 or diamond 4-4-2 whilst also being adept at playing higher up at right wing in a 4-3-3.

Others such as capitano Marco Rossi have been able to inspire the midfield in multiple positions to allow the fringe players to come into the side in their natural positions.

Kevin Constant has been given an opportunity of late and he has not disappointed, with pace and directness from the wide left and supplying dangerous deliveries or linking up with Emiliano Moretti, who is given license to roam by Malesani.

The fluidity is impressive and Malesani has yet to decide on his striking partner for Rodrigo Palacio with Lucas Pratto, Andrea Caracciolo, Bosko Jankovic and now the return from injury of ex-Santos strike Ze Eduardo all providing options.

Marco Rossi breaking past Alex Merkel in midfield, who is able to dictate the attacking proceedings, caused Siena all sorts of trouble and led to his opening goal.

The talented German has a wonderful array of passing both short when Genoa are enjoying the majority of possession and long when the opposition are frantically trying to get back into the game, as was the case on Saturday. Merkel was able to set Palacio free on the counterattack, who promptly rounded the goalkeeper to seal the win.

Now with the Grifone in seventh place and tricky fixtures before Christmas—home to struggling Inter Milan tonight, home again against Bologna before a tough away trip to Napoli—Malesani has an opportunity to secure his medium-term future for the rest of the season if he can avoid more than one defeat in this spell.

Bologna: Pioli Revamping Rossoblu Magnificently

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Albano Guaraldi is finally seeing some results to justify his decision to sack Pierpaolo Bisoli in October and the future looks bright under Stefano Pioli.

There has been an adjustment in formation in recent weeks which has proven to change their fortunes.

It was clear that Marco Di Vaio was struggling for goals as he has only scored once in 19 games from open games until a few weeks a go. The other option of Robert Acquafresca was no better, the former Italy U21 striker often disappearing in games entirely.

Pioli opted to revert to a 4-5-1 formation, which at first seemed like a negative move to make the side difficult to beat first and foremost.

It has been the opposite really, as Di Vaio, now able to offer excellent link-up play, will be joined by two attacking midfielders in Gaston Ramirez and Alessandro Diamanti.

The side sat deep when Milan were in possession and then broke with great pace with the aforementioned players along with the athletic Greek midfielder Panagiotis Kone.

They arguably deserved more than the 2-2 draw, as the Rossoneri were fortunate to take the lead through a penalty that Ibrahimovic won by conning the referee, as replays proved there was no contact.

Bologna, now unbeaten in their last three games, are three points outside the relegation zone and should only look up from here as there is too much talent in this side to be risking a drop to Serie B.

Udinese: Friulani's Perfect Home Form Continues as Palermo's Ends

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Udinese maintained their perfect home record at the Stadio Friuli this weekend with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Chievo Verona.

The Friulani had to battle hard as their usual slick passing and lightning counterattacks misfired somewhat.

Instead, Francesco Guidolin's men resorted to a plan B whereby the wide men Pablo Armero and Dusan Basta became pivotal as Chievo were forced to defend a barrage of crosses from the wide areas and corners, as Udinese opted to challenge their opponents in the air.

It worked, as two headed goals from Antonio Di Natale and Dusan Basta, who suffered a cut to his head for his troubles as he stooped low to head in the second goal before Chievo's Boukary Drame's boot connected with the Serbian's head.

Udinese turn their attentions to the Europa League now as they must avoid defeat at home to Celtic to ensure progression; if they can negotiate this, then they will be contenders to win the tournament with home form like this.

Udinese can now lay claim to having the only perfect home record in the league after Palermo dropped their first points at the Stadio Renzo Barbara thanks to an Adrian Mutu winner in Cesena's 1-0 victory.

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Napoli: Partenopei Must Shift Focus to Serie A

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Napoli claimed a point after their Champions League heroics midweek thanks to a late Blerim Dzemaili equaliser against plucky Novara, who took the lead in spectacular fashion thanks to Ivan Radovanovic's long-range screamer.

Napoli were slow and ponderous as might have been expected, as they had to grind down their Spanish opponents Villarreal midweek in a must-win game.

But Walter Mazzarri must now motivate his group in the knowledge that it is imperative they finish third to enable them to play in the Champions League from next season.

A seven-point gap opened this weekend between their fifth position and third place, occupied jointly by Milan and Lazio.

Of course, the Partenopei should focus fully on the Champions League knockout tie in the quarterfinals but now they have qualified; surely that is success in itself for Napoli and now the second half of the season should be geared towards closing the gap on the top three.

Otherwise, keeping players like Edinson Cavani and Ezequiel Lavezzi will be difficult and surely that enforced sale of their stars would be a failure for the club even if they have defied all expectations to qualify for the Champions League knockout round.

Juventus: Bianconeri Show Against Roma They Have Strength in Depth

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Juventus have proven over the last few weeks in a tricky run against Napoli, Cesena and Roma that they have the squad capable of going the distance in this season's Serie A.

Claudio Marchisio and Andrea Pirlo have been suspended for one game each in those games with Antonio Conte either plumping for the obvious replacement in Michele Pazienza in the midfield to maintain the 4-3-3 or moving Vidal back to a more reserved role, next to Pirlo, as he did against Napoli and opting for an attacking 4-2-4.

Other absentees such as Mirko Vucinic, out until the new year now, have been dealt with by Marcelo Estigarribia and Emanuele Giaccherini, who have both provided good contributions in this run. The Paraguayan scored against Napoli and the former Cesena star was the protagonist in the Coppa Italia victory against Bologna.

There is also an array of attacking talent eager to get their chance such as Alessandro Del Piero, Fabio Quagliarella and Eljero Elia with players such as Luca Toni and Vincenzo Iaquinta not even able to get on the bench predominantly.

Juventus will be hoping to maintain top spot going into the Christmas break, currently above Udinese on goal difference. Then the Old Lady will have the belief they can go all the way.