Winners and Losers from Serie A Matches from Week 8
Juventus extended their lead at the top of the league table this weekend, but Serie A's other sides grabbed the headlines this round thanks to several noteworthy wins.
Udinese, Napoli, Sassuolo, Inter, Lazio and Cagliari all made their marks, while Milan and Fiorentina were inseparable in a hard-fought 1-1 draw at the San Siro.
Winner: Walter Mazzarri
1 of 10
Inter's topsy-turvy season continues, but a narrow 1-0 win away to Cesena has bought Walter Mazzarri some more time on the Nerazzurri bench.
The Tuscan coach has struggled to get the balance right this season, and while his side did enjoy a resounding 7-0 victory over Sassuolo on Matchday 2, there have been a string of frustrating draws to the likes of Torino and Palermo as well as two comprehensive defeats at home to Cagliari and away to Fiorentina.
Inter has so far only played one team in the top seven—they drew at home to fellow strugglers Napoli in the previous round—so their current problems are a major concern for their board and for fans.
The win away at the Stadio Dino Manuzzi has earned the former Napoli boss a reprieve, but being 10 points off top spot after just eight games is unacceptable at a club the size of Inter, and rumours of a new coach are rife. Mazzarri will need to steady things at the San Siro very quickly if he's to keep his job.
Speaking to Viva Bola in his native Indonesia (h/t Football Italia), club owner Erick Thohir continued to support his manager but made it clear he expects results:
"You have to analyse the problems of the Coach in a fair way. We’ll see in the next two games, but changing the Coach during the season is never a good solution. We want to give him another chance.
There are many rumours about a new coach, but at Inter we aim for the best coach.
We’re only at round [eight], there’s a long way to go and the season lasts for 38 rounds.
At the end of November we’ll evaluate the [transfer] market, although there are certain shortcomings we’ve already seen. I won’t give the names of any players. We’ll see.
Inter are a whole new team. There are nine players who have arrived and seven who were sold. Of course this isn’t the easiest thing, because it’s always difficult to make drastic changes in a league like the Italian one.
"
Winners: Cesena
2 of 10
Cesena are just above the relegation zone right now—goal difference separates them from Palermo—but they can take plenty of confidence from how they carried themselves in their 1-0 defeat to Inter.
The Cavallucci Marini were forced to play most of the game with 10 men but still caused Inter difficulties. Goalkeeper Nicola Leali was sent off for a late challenge on Rodrigo Palacio, and despite the numerical advantage and the supposed disparity in quality between the two sides, only the resultant penalty separated the hosts and the visitors.
Pierpaolo Bisoli's side also had several chances to draw level, and the former Cagliari midfielder has every right to be proud of his players and believe that if they play like this every week, the newly promoted side have what it takes to stay in Serie A.
Losers: Inter's Strikers
3 of 10
Palacio won the penalty and Mauro Icardi converted it, but Inter's Argentine strike partnership is worryingly ineffective in front of goal.
Icardi hasn't found the back of the net from open play since his hat-trick against Sassuolo in mid-September, and Palacio is yet to get off the mark. Dani Osvaldo has also blown hot and cold.
Cesena deserve huge credit for their performance, but a team of Inter's standing really shouldn't be so goal-shy when faced with a freshly promoted team, and if the Nerazzurri's attackers can't find scoring form soon, alternatives will have to be sought in the January transfer window.
Winners: Andrea Stramaccioni and Udinese
4 of 10
It's gone somewhat unnoticed so far this season, but Andrea Stramaccioni is doing a fine job at Udinese, and the Zebrette now sit in third following their 2-0 win over Atalanta.
Strama's appointment in the summer was a risky one, given the Roman's relative lack of experience and his mixed record at Inter. Taking over from Francesco Guidolin, who'd molded Udinese into a dependable side that consistently punched above their weight, was never going to be easy, but the early signs in Friuli-Venezia Giulia look promising.
Five wins, two losses and a draw is a respectable record—and if they keep it up it will put them comfortably in the mix for the league's European places next May.
Loser: Massimo Ferrero
5 of 10
After seeing his side hold Roma to a 0-0 draw in Genoa, it should have been a good weekend for Sampdoria President Massimo Ferrero. Instead, he decided to go and insult Inter president Thohir.
Speaking on Italian TV (h/t Football Italia), the 63-year-old Roman stupidly joked that he told Inter's ex-president Massimo Moratti to "kick out that Filipino."
Thohir is obviously Indonesian, and whether it was meant as a joke or not the comment showed a shocking amount of ignorance on the part of Ferrero, especially at a time when the last thing Italian football needs is more controversy involving race and the treatment of foreigners.
The film producer later released a statement on Samp's official website (here in Italian) apologising for the gaffe, but the damage has been done.
Winners: Napoli
6 of 10
The entire Napoli camp will be delighted with the weekend's 6-2 win over Hellas Verona, but no one more so than Gonzalo Higuain.
The Argentine is the club's highest-profile player, and the fact that he'd yet to find the net this season in Serie A was putting huge pressure on him. That weight has now been lifted thanks to a hat-trick, and the former Real Madrid star can focus on scoring regularly for the rest of the season.
Lorenzo Insigne, Marek Hamsik and Jose Callejon were also brilliant, and together they showed what this Partenopei side is capable of when everything clicks.
Napoli are now two points off Udinese in third and will be hoping that their resounding win can inspire more consistently good performances—which is exactly what their fans and the club's owner expect.
As long as they sit in seventh position, Rafa Benitez's future on the bench is still far from certain, but assuming this wasn't just a one-off, Napoli should be higher up the table, and a lot more comfortable, very soon. It will be interesting to see how effective they can be when they host Roma on 1 November.
Winners and Losers: Milan and Fiorentina
7 of 10
Milan and Fiorentina played out a 1-1 draw on Sunday night, and neither side left the San Siro happy.
Vincenzo Montella will rue the fact that the Viola continue to have injury problems up front, because with a little more confidence and a cutting edge in the final third the visitors could have returned to Florence with all three points.
Likewise, Pippo Inzaghi will feel that Josip Ilicic's equaliser came against the run of play, and on another night the Rossoneri would have secured a comfortable home victory.
Even so, both sides can take positives from the clash.
Nigel de Jong, who put Milan in front after 24 minutes, was excellent again, and despite conceding the defence played well.
Jeremy Menez was far from his best up front, but Keisuke Honda and Stephan El Shaarawy both looked lively, and once Inzaghi gets them all playing their best football together consistently he'll have an attack to rival the best in Italy. Considering the fact they'd lost the last three of these fixtures, that in itself is a positive.
For Fiorentina, Juan Cuadrado struggled to find space and wasn't on top form but still provided the assist for Ilicic's crucial goal.
The young Khouma Babacar, meanwhile, can put the game down to experience, because while marked heavily he still caused some problems. Great things are expected from the Senegalese 21-year-old, and learning to deal with games like this one are all part of his education.
Both teams will have wanted more from the game but can be happy with what they got.
Winners: Sassuolo
8 of 10
Sassuolo are arguably among the weekend's biggest winners thanks to a 3-1 victory away to Parma.
The smallest team in Serie A drew with Juventus last week and continued their upward mobility with their first win of the season at the Ennio Tardini to lift themselves out of the relegation zone.
Parma now look to be in real trouble and were completely outplayed by the visitors.
Francesco Acerbi and Saphir Taider were the standout players for the Neroverdi, but in general it was an excellent team performance from Eusebio Di Francesco's men. If they can keep it up, they'll cause plenty of teams problems.
Winner: Miroslav Klose
9 of 10
Miroslav Klose has found opportunities limited under Silvio Pioli, but the veteran German bagged his first goal this season for Lazio against Torino, winning the game for the Aquile 2-1.
As he proved in the summer with Germany, even now when he's past his best the veteran hitman is still a huge goal threat. It shouldn't be underestimated how important it is for a club like Lazio to have a player of his stature around.
The 36-year-old is known to be an influential figure in the dressing room even when he's not playing, and while his new manager has thus far favoured the Roman side's younger players, there's no doubting that having a player of his experience, in form, as an option is a huge positive.
Winners: Serie A Fans
10 of 10
Cagliari scored four in the first half against Empoli in classic Zdenek Zeman style.
Serie A is always a bit more special when the veteran Czech coach is around, and though the Rossoblu are still a work in progress it now looks like Zemanlandia has taken root in Sardinia.
Fans of all-out attacking football and desperate defending should be pleased.
