5 Things About Serie A That We Learned from Week 18 in Italy

Jack Alexandros RathbornJan 17, 2012

Serie A produced an exciting weekend of action in which the top three all dropped points in upsets and Napoli bottled the chance to gain ground on them by drawing in the Monday night game at home to Bologna.

Calcio has never been so competitive, and the title race has now been blown wide open with Inter's 1-0 victory in the Derby della Madonnina, thanks to Diego Milito's angled finish.

Juventus stumbled into first place after a 1-1 draw at home to Cagliari, when Andrea Cossu blasted past Gianluigi Buffon to silence the Bianconeri fans.

After writing off the bottom three, recently two of them (Cesena and Lecce) claimed vital wins as they strive to survive.

Lets delve in to the five points that came about after the weekend's games.

Palermo: Zamparini Is Wishing He Hadn't Sacked Mangia After Mutti's Second Loss

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Maurizio Zamparini will already be regretting pulling the trigger on sacking Denis Mangia during the winter break.

His replacement, Bortolo Mutti, suffered his second successive defeat in as many games in charge of the Rosanero and clearly proved that Mangia was not the problem with the Sicilians.

Mangia was cruelly sacked as his Rosanero were comfortably inside the top half despite losing many of the club's best players in the summer, such as Javier Pastore and Antonio Nocerino.

Now Palermo languish in 14th position, just six points ahead of the relegation zone.

The club is a mess, and it really shouldn't be, as it continues to acquire some of the best talent in the world due to its attractive location.

The latest being the former Argentine U20 international, Franco Vázquez, signed for £4 million from Belgrano, whom he spearheaded to promotion to the first division.

Tough times await for Palermo, and they will not go away until Zamparini changes his philosophy on coaches.

Yes, there's not much chance of that after 22 managerial appointments in 10 years.

Soon to be 23.

Inter Milan: Nerazzurri Are Back in the Scudetto Race

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Inter Milan continued their incredible surge toward the pinnacle of Serie A with a Derby victory against Milan after Diego Milito pounced on Ignazio Abate's awful error to snatch the three points.

It was the Nerazzurri's sixth league win in succession and has prompted many to believe that Claudio Ranieri has hauled Inter back into the title race.

They have gained six points on Juventus in this run and five points on Milan.

Crucially, they now sit just three points behind Udinese, who occupy that precious third spot that will enable Champions League football next season.

Diego Milito is experiencing a renaissance with three goals in two games and seems to have found his deadly accuracy in front of goal once more.

Wesley Sneijder, all of a sudden, appears to be expendable.

There is a continuity now with the Nerazzurri, and Ranieri needs to take credit for this, which is why he is weary about recruiting the notorious Carlos Tevez.

Incredibly, the acquisition of a world-class striker might be the only stumbling block between them and a remarkable achievement of top three.

Bologna: Three-Man Defence Changing Rossoblu's Fortunes

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Stefano Pioli's Bologna have enjoyed a nice change of fortune in recent weeks.

The Rossoblu have picked up four points in their last two games to edge away from the relegation.

Four points ahead of 18th-placed Cesena, Bologna will be focusing on climbing the table with a group of players that should technically be capable of comfortably finishing mid-table.

Pioli deserves some credit after tinkering with his tactics two weeks ago after the winter break, when he became convinced Andrea Raggi could become a central defender permanently.

Raggi now forms part of a three-man defence, which enables Pioli to field more of his star players than it was possible when operating in a 4-4-2 formation.

When all fit, Bologna possess a pair of destructive central midfielders in Gabriel Mudingayi and Diego Perez, who can protect the back three and allow the platform for the rest.

The rest being the talented duo of Alessandro Diamanti and Gaston Ramirez along with Marco Di Vaio, or even Robert Acquafresca, who poached the equaliser in Naples on Monday night.

Archimede Morleo is adapting to his left-midfield berth, as is Nico Pulzetti, meaning the Pioli has stumbled upon a nice balance that is capable of hurting opponents more than before, but still maintains that solidarity.

Bologna should shoot up the table in the coming weeks.

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Genoa: Marino Begins Rebuilding Job at the Marassi as Genoa Claim Vital Win

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Genoa claimed an impressive three points against third-placed Udinese with a 3-2 victory at the Marassi.

The Grifoni came from behind to lead 3-1 before the fight back began from the Zebrette, as Marco Rossi saw red with 16 minutes to go.

New manager Pasquale Marino will be delighted with the win, especially as he was dealt a minor crisis with so many defensive absentees.

Dario Dainelli, Kakha Kaladze, Cesare Bovo, Luca Antonelli and Emiliano Moretti were all absent, meaning Marco Rossi operating as a central defender and Kevin Constant pushed back to left-back.

It was a back line that was bound to struggle to keep a clean sheet, but it was at least resilient, which enabled their reformed front line to have enough protection to win the game.

Suddenly, with the return of Rodrigo Palacio alongside Alberto Gilardino and one of Boscko Jankovic or Alex Merkel, you have a potent attack.

The midfield is as strong as any side in Serie A, with Miguel Veloso now joined by Davide Biondini, newly signed from Cagliari, to screen the back line.

Marino is then able to incorporate a more creative player alongside the pair, which in the case of this weekend was Merkel.

The strength in depth is there with Inter-bound Juray Kucka and Felipe Seymour as defensive midfielders and Cristobal Jorquera able to be an effective creator.

Enrico Preziosi is almost as notorious as Maurizio Zamparini when it comes to his patience with managers, but he must resist pulling the trigger on this one in order for the talented squad assembled to form some continuity.

Outside of Milan, Inter, Juve, Roma and Napoli the Grifoni possess as good a squad as any.

Cagliari: Ballardini Completes Isolani Transformation

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Cagliari claimed a vital point away to league leaders Juventus this weekend and have now proven under Davide Ballardini that the side has progressed.

Since the sacking of Massimo Ficcadenti, Massimo Cellino has been searching for a manager who could deliver the stubbornness of his former manager against the big sides but also add some guile and creativity in order to beat the smaller teams, too.

There was the unpopular decision to relinquish long-serving midfielder Davide Biondini to Genoa, but his replacement, Daniele Dessena from Sampdoria, is apt enough to fill the gap.

The strike force is finally conjuring up some goals and enough creativity in order to score some goals, which was painfully not the case under Ficcadenti.

Victor Ibarbo is a real find. The 21-year-old Colombian was purchased from Atletico Nacional in the summer and has had to wait patiently for his chance.

He has seized it with two hands and is now the star man with his brute strength and pace alongside target man Joaquin Larrivey.

The latter's position is in jeopardy, though, after the recovery from injury of talented Moroccan Moestafa El Khabir, who is a lively prospect.

Cagliari seem to have enough about them and have already overcome one crisis to be able to survive in this league once again.

Finally, some calm in Sardegna.