Serie A: 5 Things We Learned from Week 6

Jack Alexandros RathbornOct 17, 2011

It has been a bizarre week in Serie A that will be remembered for five goalless draws out of six matches that kicked off at 14:00 BST.

It led many to jibe at how Serie A is in demise, and more worryingly, many to assume it could be the latest betting scandal, both of which I will address in this article.

In terms of football, we saw a fascinating Rome derby, bottom club Bologna finally grabbing a victory, Inter's slump continuing and Milan finally putting on an impressive display.

It was a relief to get back to the entertainment of club football after the international break, in truth, scuppered the great momentum Serie A had begin to gather after the delayed start to the season.

Some of the sides, as seen with the numerous stalemates, found it difficult to get back in to the swing of things, but at least calcio is back.

Alejandro Sabella Should Buy a Few Season Tickets at Serie A Clubs

1 of 6

Alejandro Sabella should have been an interested viewer Saturday evening in Sicily, as Inter Milan visited Catania.

If the Argentina manager had been at the Stadio Angelo Massimino, he would have seen no fewer than 14 players eligible for his Albiceleste, as many as the Italian players on display.

Catania had eight Argentines at manager Vincenzo Montella's disposal for Saturday's game with a further five not selected in the squad.

Mariano Andujar, Nicolas Spolli, Sergio Almiron, Mariano Izco, Alejandro Gomez and Gonzalo Bergessio all started for the Elefanti.

Maxi Lopez and Pablo Barrientos made the bench with Pablo Ledesma, Pablo Alvarez and Cristian Llama injured.

Mario Paglialunga and Adrian Ricchiuti are also on the books to make the Rossazzurri players feel like Catania is little Buenos Aires.

Inter Milan are also littered with their fair share of Argentines with Javier Zanetti, Walter Samuel, Esteban Cambiasso and Diego Milito starting at the weekend.

The Nerazzurri also had Mauro Zarate and Ricardo Alvarez on the bench.

So not only should Sabella pay close attention to Serie A this season, with plenty of other Argentines in the league, but given the ease at which they are able to settle in to Italian society and football, you can expect plenty of scouts to be keeping a close eye on the Primera Division for the latest exports to stop in the Peninsula.

Stefano Pioli Can Save Bologna from Relegation Despite His Nightmare at Palermo

2 of 6

Stefano Pioli has had an interesting year.

He led Chievo Verona to a very admirable finish 11th placed finish, a comfortable 10 points clear of relegation.

He left the club by mutual consent after he publicly declared an approach by Roma for his services.

Subsequently, Roma never followed through their interest and eventually installed Luis Enrique with Pioli offered the Palermo vacancy.

He left the Renzo Barbara prematurely, though, just two months after taking the reigns and without managing a competitive game, as eccentric president Maurizio Zamparini appointed Devis Mangia as the 18th manager since he arrived at the club.

Pioli had obviously thought he was destined for greater things that the unfashionable Mussi Volanti (Flying Donkeys) with the exciting new vacancy at Roma proving illusive.

Pioli must now rebuild his reputation with Bologna and he has started superbly, with Gaston Ramirez and Robert Acquafresca handing the Rossoblu their first victory of the season to lift them off the bottom of the league.

Pioli certainly has the tools to save Bologna from relegation, with superb goalkeeper Jean-Francois Gillet (currently injured) capable of earning his side half a dozen points a year and aerially dominant centre back Daniele Portanova, who is also capable of being a threat at the other end of the pitch as proven against Juventus.

Gaston Ramirez is a super-talent and Alessandro Diamanti is an inspirational maverick, both of whom are capable of supplying capitano Marco Di Vaio or Roberto Acquafresca with sufficient ammunition to fire Bologna to safety.

Bologna face a nice run of fixtures to build momentum now.

They host high flying Lazio in a difficult but not hopeless match up next week before a trip to Chievo and another home fixture against Atalanta.

A return of four or five points is certainly within the realms of possibility.

Lazio: Miroslav Klose Is Rejuvenated and Capable of Being the Capocannoniere

3 of 6

Miroslav Klose arrived on a free transfer this summer from Bayern Munich.

Klose is indisputably world class on the international stage, with 62 goals in 112 games and the second top scorer at World Cups in history with 14, behind Ronaldo on 15.

It has been a while since Klose has been able to replicate this form at club level due to a combination of injuries and prolonged spells on the bench at the Bavarian giants.

At the age of 33, many, including myself, were sceptical as to if it was possible for the Die Mannschaft marksman to re-identify himself in a new league that is notoriously difficult for foreign imports.

Klose is making things look easy, though, and has four goals from six matches to sit second in the chase to become the Capocannoniere.

This forms seems to be sustainable too, with the perfect players around him to compliment his predatory instincts.

Djibril Cisse possesses the pace to work the channels and free up space for him, while Brazilian Hernanes is a brilliant play maker who should supply plenty of chances.

On the basis of his start with Lazio, a projected total of over 15 goals seems realistic, which Edy Reja would be delighted with.

TOP NEWS

Real Madrid CF v Girona FC - LaLiga EA Sports

Bleacher Report1w

Real Betis V Real Madrid - Laliga Ea Sports

Bleacher Report1w

Milan: Robinho Will Be Allegri's Perfect Trequartista

4 of 6

Robinho returned to the Milan starting line-up this weekend in sparkling form after a five weeks out with a groin injury.

Kevin Prince Boateng has always been thought of as the sole possessor of the trequartista role behind two strikers, but due to his suspension, Robinho was handed the opportunity to stake his claim for a more withdrawn role in the side.

On the basis of Saturday's performance, he will relish operating in this position. So will Antonio Cassano and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who reaped the rewards in attack with constant supply of opportunities that they were starved of during the Juventus game before the international break with Boateng.

The Seleção star has the athleticism that Allegri ideally wants in his attacking midfielder, as shown by a willingness to even play Urby Emanuelson in this same role.

On top of this, he can pick a pass and link up with the strikers, which Boateng seems to do less often.

Boateng can see the pass quickly and helps the Rossoneri on the counter attack, but when sides are prepared to defend deep or more stubbornly with man markers, the Ghanaian seems to struggle.

Robinho was integral in the build up to the goals by Antonio Nocerino and Antonio Cassano and added a goal himself in between.

Milan will hope that the combination of Robinho-Ibrahimovic-Cassano will prosper in the coming weeks, as they seem to have worked their way back in to an ominous position to defend their title.

Reaction: Serie A in Demise and Signs of a New Betting Scandal

5 of 6

Serie A in demise?

Sunday afternoon's games in Serie A brought up some controversy when five of the six games (including the midday fixture between Cesena and Fiorentina) resulted in goalless draws.

This provided perfect ammunition for Serie A skeptics who have continued to denounce the league as in crisis.

I thought I would further analyse the facts in order to gage a neutral point of view as to whether Serie A is really in decline.

It is true that Serie A might not have the lure that it once did to attract the world's top talents in bidding wars that often see the Premier League and Primera Division prosper.

But the same, in this regard, can be said of the Bundesliga, yet this league receives regular bouts of adulation.

In fact, if we analyse the league in general, Serie A (£454million) was the second highest spending league in the summer behind the Premier League (£492million) and comfortably spending more than the Primera Liga (£318million) and both Ligue 1 (£168million) and the Bundesliga (£134million).

So clearly, there is some life in the league and enough interest from foreign players (who make the majority of the amount spent by clubs) to have the desire to come to Italy to play.

In terms of entertainment, well, it's difficult to define what this is.

Most would say that goals are a good factor here, and over a broad period of the last three years, we can see whether there is a trend.

Serie A has seen 2935 goals at an average of 2.57 compared to the Premier League's 3058 goals at a rate of 2.68, and lastly, the Primera Liga has seen 3174 at a rate of 2.78.

So the critics are quite right in saying that the Premier League is more entertaining, and more so when they heap praise on the Primera Liga's entertainment factor.

But what about competitiveness, we can see there has been a gap between Spain's big two (Barcelona and Real Madrid) and the rest over that same period of three seasons, maintaining a gap of 54 points in the last three seasons between second place and whoever finished third.

In a direct comparison, the Premier League has had three clubs finish in the top two over the least two three seasons with Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool, with a total of 13 points between the second and third placed club over this time.

Serie A, however, has a greater variety of clubs able to challenge for a place in the top two, with Inter Milan, Juventus and Roma making it in the past three seasons, with a similar gap between the third placed club and the second to the Premier League with 16 points.

Where Italy prove stronger than their rivals is in terms of number of clubs capable of qualifying for the Champions League and depth of quality in other terms.

Serie A has had eight (Inter Milan, AC Milan, Juventus, Roma, Sampdoria, Udinese, Napoli and Fiorentina) all finish in the Champions League spots, whereas the Primera Division (Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia, Villarreal, Atletico Madrid and Sevilla) and the Premier League (Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur) have six each.

Furthermore, a revealing statistic that will have gone unnoticed in this time is that the Premier League has had no other clubs get within reach (three points or less) of fourth spot, whereas the Primera Liga has had one club (Mallorca) and Serie A having three in that time Lazio (08/09), Palermo (09/19) and Genoa (08/09), which is something the league can be proud of.

Looking at this season, we can see that Serie A has a gap of just 10 points between top and bottom, whereas the Primera Liga has 16 points difference, and the Premier League more so with 17 points.

Dawn of a new betting scandal?

Several people mentioned on Sunday that there was something suspicious in the fact there were five 0-0 draws this weekend and a further game (Novara 0 2 Bologna) which was under 2.5 goals (a popular bet offered by all bookmakers).

The suggestion by many and something that snowballed was that these results could be fixed to ensure benefactors could profit by betting extraordinary amounts on less than 2.5 goals in each match.

When you consider that an organised betting ring's primary goal is to fix the outcome of games or parts of the games, you can see why these claims were raised.

But it should be rubbished immediately because the second fundamental rule a betting ring would need to ensure to be successful is that business should be done without raising suspicion.

Surely, if there was something happening, then those involved would ensure that not all the games followed the pattern that they required, i.e. make sure a couple of games had more than 2.5 goals.