Serie A Season Review: 2011-12 Part 2

Part 2 of the Serie A Season Review focuses more on the team stats, Part 1 can be found here with the individual player stats.

With Juventus winning the Title in such commanding fashion, it’s to be expected that they will dominate the Team Statistics. They didn’t rely on one outstanding performer, but rather it was a team effort, illustrated best by the fact that their top scorer only hit 10 league goals.

Clean Sheets:

Since the first part of the Serie A review focused on the glory boys knocking the ball into the net, it’s only fair that we start with the defences. And it’s no surprise that Juventus come out on top. Not only did they keep the most clean sheets with 21, they also had the most against the Top 6 teams with a very decent five shut outs in ten games (along with Napoli). They say that a title is built on the defence, so to go a whole season unbeaten, means it must be pretty tight and that’s certainly illustrated below. Every team from 2nd Placed Milan to 6th placed Inter were kept out on one occasion. In fact, Bologna and Catania were the only teams not to be kept out by the Juventus defence.

As well as keeping the most against the top teams, they also had the highest (along with AC Milan) number against the struggling teams, recording 9 clean sheets in 12 games.

And speaking of AC Milan, they also had the highest number of clean sheets against the mid table teams, with 8 (along with Inter Milan and Cagliari). Ominously for them though, they only kept one clean sheet against the Top 6 teams in ten attempts. In what appears to be a similar scenario with Ibrahimovic’s scoring for them, they’re not so much flat track bullies, more big game bottlers.

Elsewhere, Cagliari had the worst ranked opponent per clean sheet with 14.40, meaning their defence was poor against decent opponents, their only one clean sheet against the Top 6 was against Udinese early on in the season in a 0-0 draw. Inter Milan continued to defy logic by keeping 8 clean sheets against the Middle 8 teams, yet somehow could only keep two clean sheets against the struggling teams.

Goals Scored:

An area where Juventus didn’t excel was in attack. Whilst it’s well documented that they didn’t rely on one player for goals, they had the weakest attack of all the Champions of the major European leagues:

• Real Madrid – 121 Goals
• Manchester City – 93 goals
• Ajax – 93 goals (34 game season)
• Borussia Dortmund – 80 goals (34 game season)
• FC Porto – 69 goals (30 game season)
• Montpellier – 68 goals

You get the idea. To be fair though, I should point out that AC Milan won the league with 65 goals in 2010-11, whilst Inter won it with 75 and 70 goals for the 2009-10 and 2008-09 seasons respectively. It’s not a high scoring league, though it’s far from the defensive based football that the stereotype suggests.

Despite only scoring 68 goals, Juve did make them count when it mattered. Along with Roma and Genoa, they scored the most goals against the Top 6 teams with 18. Once again, AC Milan’s inability to do it against the big teams is highlighted in this measurement. Whilst they scored 2.5 goals per game against the Bottom 6, and 2.2 goals per game against the Middle 8 teams, they scored a very poor 0.9 goals per game against the top teams. To put it into perspective, relegate Novara managed as many goals as AC Milan against the decent sides (albeit with 2 games more).

That’s bad, but not as bad as Chievo, who managed just three goals in the twelve games that they faced the best. Not that it will particularly worry them, as they finished in a respectable 10th place. If you were a Chievo fan though, you’d turn up to the big games knowing that it’s unlikely to end well for you.

And worse still is Cesena’s over recored of just 24 goals. Ouch.

Goals Conceded:

As you can see from the green below, this one (much like the losses one) is a pretty straight forward homage to Juventus again. Now I hate to concetrate so much on one team, but they are champions after going unbeaten, so fair’s fair. Least goals conceded, and the lowest against all ranges of opposition. The amazing thing about the Juve defence is that it is mainly the same players that played in 2010-11 when they let in a rather less impressive 47 goals on the way to finishing 7th. Praise must go to Antonio Conte, and it must also beg a question of why attacking players make such good defensive coaches (I’m thinking George Graham, and there’s probably more but the mind has gone blank).

Juventus aside, just look at Inter Milan’s record against the bottom 6 again. Shambolic springs to mind. Four of those were in a crazy 4-4 draw with Palermo and another four were in a crazy 4-3 defeat to Palermo.

Lazio had the worst average ranked opponent per goal conceded, with their defence actually performing better against the stronger teams. At the other end of the scale, Lecce conceded a lot of goals (56) but at least it was mainly to teams that finished above them. Their average of 8.13 was the highest.

Games Lost:

This is perhaps the most telling measurement when looking at AC Milan’s season. None were lost against the bottom teams, only one was lost against the mid table teams, but a massive 5 were lost against their Top 6 rivals. This is illustrated by their average ranked conqueror’s of 5.83, an average only bettered by Heerenveen’s 2.67 in the Eredivisie.

Cesena lost the most games against both the Top and Mid teams with 11 (out of 12) and 10 respectively. Not a surprise that they finished bottom of the league then. Whilst strangely, Bologna finished 9th despite being terrible against the Bottom 6 teams – losing five times.

Juventus. That’s a pret-ty good record. And i’ll give it a bit more praise when I compare them to the Arsenal invincibles of 2003-04.

Kudos to Chievo who despite being pretty rotten against the good teams, achieved their mid table respectibility by refusing to lose to the stragglers at the bottom of the table.

Failure to Score:

A new measure, and a new reason to slate AC Milan and their big game bottler status. As you can see, they had no trouble whatsoever against anyone outside the Top 6, but as well as losing five games to the big boys, they also failed to even score on four occasions.

Cesena managed to only score in 17 of their 38 games which you don’t need me to tell you is bad. Chievo’s inability to give their fans anything to cheer about when facing any one good is confirmed here, with a failure to score on 9 occasions against the Top 6 teams. Catania finished below them but still only failed to score against the Top 6 teams on two occasions – a total only bettered by the Champions.

And just to confirm why Juventus were deserved winners, and to highlight the importance of doing well against the teams around you, here’s a couple of mini leagues for your viewing pleasure:

Top 6 Mini League:

Bottom 6 Mini League:

That’s all I’ve got for the Serie A review for 2011-12 season. If you have any questions then please e-mail me or write in the comments box below.

Cheers,

Liam

Serie A Season Review: 2011-12 Part 1

Hot on the heels of the Premier League review, the Italian equivalent gets the treatment next. Throughout the season I’ve been looking at the opponents at the time of play, now that the season is over it’s a chance to look at the opponents based on their final rankings. Part one, is based on the goalscorers

Most of you know the drill now, this is a site looking to prove who the big game players are based on how they do against a range of opponents – we have the average ranked team scored against, we have the ranges (Top 6-Middle 8-Bottom 6), and we also have importance of goals in terms of points won. Chuck in the assists and we’ll have a good idea of how the attacking players have stood up to be counted in the big games. Similarly, we also have the numbers that are damning for the Flat Track Bullies. To see the big game players based on the ranking at the time of play, click here to read the Round 38 review.

Goals versus Top 6 Teams – Fabrizio Miccoli, 8 goals

Although it was a pretty shocking season for Palermo, there was one shining light. Dropping from 8th in 2010-11 to 16th this season is not what the fans had in mind at the start of the season, but whilst they can point fingers at the crazy chairman, the three different managers or the second worst defence in Serie A, they certainly couldn’t accuse Fabrizio Miccoli of under performing.

Well, if you’re gonna be picky you could accuse him of not turning up against the shit teams in the bottom 6, but where’s the glory in that? For Miccoli is the outstanding big game player in Serie A this season. Hitting 16 goals in just 28 league games, the 32 year old enjoyed a great season with the Sicilian club. As seen above, 50% of his goals came against the Top 6 teams in the country, with a team that finished just two places above the relegation zone. His victims included Inter Milan (a whopping 5 goals in the two meetings), Udinese, Lazio and Napoli. This left him comfortably above any other player in terms of goals against the Top 6 teams this season. He’s at his seventh professional club, but it’s very much been his home after spending the longest period of his career there (5 years after spells at Juventus, Fiorentina and Benfica).

He’s got heart…..providing he’s playing against someone decent

Behind Miccoli (who only scored 9 goals in 2010-11) were a couple of Argentine strikers. Diego Milito rediscovered the devastating form that saw Inter win the Treble in 2010, but this years Inter is nowhere near as good as that team, despite containing a large number of the same players. Like Palermo, Inter also had three managers in what was a very turbulent season for the Milan giants, but this didn’t seem to bother the big striker as he stepped up in the biggest occasion for any Inter Milan player – the Milan derby. Scoring the winner whilst beating AC Milan 1-0 in the middle of the season was one thing, but to beat them 4-2 to hand the title to Juventus was another, and to score a hat trick smacks of a player with a big game temperament. He also hit goals in both games against 4th placed Lazio to cement his claim to be a big game player. The other Argy was the slightly less known Rodrigo Palacio of Genoa who will be lining up for Inter Milan next season, and it’s easy to see why. The former Boca Juniors forward had his best scoring season with 19 league goals in 32 Serie A appearances, and like Miccoli, he preferred to play against the best teams. His six goals against the Top 6 teams were against Inter Milan, Lazio (home and away), Napoli (2), and Udinese. At the age of 30, this move could be his last chance to make it at an established European Super Power.

Further down the list are a few of the Italian Euro 2012 squad members, Di Natale, Giovinco and Diamanti all grabbed 4 goals against the big guns, whilst Edinson Cavani hit 5 against the other Top 6 teams. Joining Cavani on 5 goals is a relative new comer to Italian football Mattia Destro is only 21 but the young Siena striker certainly had an eye for the big occasion. Despite having only score 14 career league goals (12 this season), 5 of them came against this years Top 6 with goals against Napoli, Udinese and Lazio (3). He’s already getting attention from the bigger clubs, after a brief stint at Inter.

Honourable Mentions to – Jovetic in a struggling Fiorentina team still managed to perform in the big games with 4 goals against the top teams – Scoring against both 1st placed Juventus, 2nd placed AC Milan and a brace against 3rd placed Udinese. Not just that, but he also scored home and away against 7th placed Roma, who were in the Top 6 at the time of play. All in all, a big game player, and he’s certainly earned his £20m price tag.

Highest Average Opposition per goal – Marco Di Vaio, 8.40

It turned out to be a good final season in Serie A for the veteran Bologna Striker. The former Italy international recently announced a move to footballing giants Montreal Impact after ending a four year stay with Bologna. And he will be missed with 65 goals in 135 Serie A appearances for the Northern Italy team. And as you’ll see above, he was the man with the highest ranked opponent per goal (with those players with 10 goals or more), with his 10 goals being against an average of 8.40.

Di Vaio just leads the way ahead of Miccoli’s 8.75, as he scored just once against the Bottom 6 teams, resulting in his low average (the league average is 10.5, though this varies depending on what position each team finished). Like Jovetic, Di Vaio notched against both AC Milan and Juventus, whilst a brace against 6th placed Inter and another agaisnt 7th placed Roma saw him grab the coveted Average Opposition Award (I may even e-mail him to tell him about the non-existant award).

Aside from the top two, Destro and Jovetic rear their heads with decent averages, whilst the likes of Milito (11 goals vs Bottom 6) and Giovinco (33% of his goals were against Bottom 6 teams) have lower than expected numbers.

Honourable Mention to – Although he scored less than 10 goals, Lazio’s Stefano Amauri’s 4 goals were on average against 4.75 ranked teams, with goals against Inter, Juventus, Napoli and Roma – a big game player. Inter Milan’s Maicon only scored two goals this season – though the opponents were Champions Juventus, and Milan Rivals and 2nd placed, AC Milan.

Flat Track Bullies

With every Miccoli or Di Vaio, there’s someone that finishes at the other end of the scale, with the lowest Average Opposition per goal, or the most goals against the Bottom 6/least against the Top 6. And there’s a couple of surprising names on the list. Below are the players with the lowest rank opposition for each of their goals (10 goals or more):

Marco Rigoni isn’t exactly a household name, and perhaps this is why. He specialises in the games against lower to mid table opponents. Of his 11 goals, almost half of them were against the strugglers at the bottom. He only scored in two games against Top Half teams, and a hat trick against bottom placed Cesena added largely to his lowly 13.82 average opposition. But he isn’t the surprise name – Udinese and Italy striker Antonio Di Natale scored a massive 9 goals against the bottom teams which has pushed his average down to 12.26, whilst Milan duo Nocerino (11.90) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (11.69) were regular scorers against the teams fighting relegation. Cavani, Klose, and Milito are all big names that scored significantly more against the Bottom 6 than the Top 6 – although that is to be expected as the defences aren’t as strong.

And there’s some similar names when looking at the most goals scored against the Bottom 6 teams:

Milito leads the way with 11, but at least has the decency to score 6 against Top 6 teams. Behind him is Ibrahimovic with 9 goals. He’s often been described as a flat track bully, and to a certain extent it’s justifiable. But it’s probably fair to say that he excels against average opposition – with 16 goals coming against the teams ranked 7th to 14th.

And with just three against the Top 6 teams (one of which was a penalty), there is a case to be made for Ibrahimovic bottling it in the big games. He scored in just two of the games against the best teams (Lazio and a double against Inter). So whilst he’s not an out and out Flat Track Bully, there is evidence that he’s a big game bottler.

Honourable Mentions to –Kevin Prince Boateng scored just 5 league goals, 3 against 18th placed Lecce, one against 12th placed Atalanta and one against 17th placed Genoa. Strangely though, he scored against Barcelona in the Champions League, and Inter Milan in the Super Cup. And Chievo’s Pellisier scored the most goals without bothering the Top 6 teams.

Palacio Good Player, crap hair

Valuable Goals – Diego Milito 16 points from 24 goals, whilst Rodrigo Palacio’s goals won 33% of Genoa’s points

To soften the blow for Milito, who was said to be visually shaken when he found out he had the most goals against the Bottom 6, he can be rightly satisfied that his goals have been so important, worth 16 points for Inter Milan. At times, he was a one man team as Inter went through a comedy run of terrible results – scoring 9 goals in a 6 game run, including all 4 in a 4-4 draw with Parma. He scored the winner in a 1-0 win against AC Milan (2 points) and then scored a hat trick in the return game in the 4-2 win (3 points). Decisive goals against Lazio, Genoa and Siena (8 points) amongst others saw him cement his place at the top of the points won table.

In terms of efficiency, Lazio striker Miroslav Klose has more than a point per goal before injury cut his season short but that’s nothing compared to Chievo’s catpain Sergio Pellisier. Whilst he specialised in bulying the weaker opponents, at least he can say that it was worth while. Each of his goals were worth on average 1.5 points, as every goal he scored directly impacted the final score. Five of his goals were in one goal wins for Chievo, whilst a further three were in draws (2 in a 4-4 draw with Palermo).

As mentioned above, Rodrigo Palacio was the most important to his team as his 19 goals resulted in 14 points for Genoa, which was equivalent to 33% of their overall points.

At the other end of the scale, Juventus’ Vidal Prado scored 7 goals in his debut season with the Turin club and whilst that’s a pretty good return from midfield, none of them were decisive – all came in games where Juve beat their opponents comfortably. Similarly, Lazio’s Rocchi did the same with his 5 goals.

Of the big scorers (those with 15 goals or over), Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s 28 goals were only worth 9 points:

So although he had the best goals scoring season of his career, he wasn’t quite the one man team that some commentators would suggest. Di Natale and Cavani both had 23 goals that were worth 12 points although this measure doesn’t pick up the other measurement of goal importance – when they were scored. So whilst a Cavani scored the opener against Palermo in a 2-0, as Hamsik scored the other goal, it meant that if Cavani’s goal was removed, Napoli would still have 3 points as they’d win 1-0. Not an exact science, but a good indicator of the importance to the team.

Assists

And just to conclude the goalscoring look at the 2011-12 Serie A season, a quick nod to the men that have created the goals, and none have created more than Juventus midfielder Andrea Pirlo. Eyebrows were raised when the Italy international was allowed to leave AC Milan for the Turin giants and with good reason, as he rolled back the years to become one of the Champions most important players.

But he’s not the big game player in terms of assists – that is Parma playmaker Sebastian Giovinco. The former Juventus man joined Parma on a full time basis last summer and it’s worked out well with the diminutive (another word for small – think Zola) front man not only scored 15 goals, but he also got 11 assists, five of which were against the Top 6 teams (Inter, Lazio twice, Udinese and Napoli).

Fabrizio Miccoli also chipped in with 4 assists against the big teams to add to his eight goals. That’s a combined 12 goals or assists in a maximum 12 games – impressive stuff, and undoubtedly a big game player. Antonio Cassano deserves a mention as well, as he hit 10 assists and 3 goals in just 16 games – with a stroke sandwiched in between. It’s certainly been a great relief for all football fans seeing him lining up for Italy in Euro 2012.

That’s it for the goalscoring look back on Serie A. The team stats will be in part 2.

Cheers,

Liam

Serie A Round 38

With the League title already decided, focus on the final day of the season in Italy turned elsewhere. In terms of importance, 3rd spot was still to be decided for the final Champions League place, whilst the final relegation place was also available for one unlucky winner/loser.

Aside from the harsh business of results and placings, there was also the feeling that Serie A had reached the end of an era. In all likelihood, Seedorf, Nesta, Inzaghi and Gattuso all played their final games for AC Milan (Seedorf to be confirmed) but the most emotional farewell was in Turin as Alessandro Del Piero played his final game at home for Juventus. And what a send off it was. And rightly so. He joined in 1993 from Padova, played 704 games, scored 289 goals and won a truckload of medals – Serie A, Serie B, Copa Italia, UEFA Super Cup, Intercontinental Cup, and the Champions League. He played alongside some of the all time Juve greats – Zidane, Davids, Vialli, Baggio, Nedved, Buffon and countless others. In short it’s been a great career. He signed off with a goal – not the trademark finish from the left of the area (the Del Piero Zone) into the far corner, but still a good hit with a bit of curl from his trusty right boot, into the near post. His goal can be seen by clicking here, but below is the send off he got. You’ll notice that the game was actually still being played as he completed his lap of honour:

He’s been a great player, and to see him leaving Juventus has been similar to seeing Raul leaving Madrid, Keane leaving Man United and Christian Vieri stay at a club for more than a season – it was sad to see. But this isn’t averageEmotions.com (I’m not sure if that exists, I wouldn’t recommend clicking on it), this is a football site looking at the big game players. And as so, despite him being one of my all time favourites, I have to check Del Piero’s record. And I’m afraid it’s not that good. Looking at the finals he’s played in, there’s not a lot of goals:

Five goals isn’t a great return from a player of his ability. Yes, he has scored in the Champions League Final, and to be fair, he didn’t start all of the above games, but you’d expect more from him. The one that sticks in the mind the most is the Final of Euro 2000 when he missed several good chances to wrap up the game for Italy. Redemption was found in the World Cup Semi Final in 2006 to an extent, but for Juventus, three of his five final goals came in the Super Cup/Intercontinental Cup which are no more than glorified friendlies. So in terms of the big game player stakes, he’s more Henry than Zidane, but he’s still been a great player.

Back to the present though, Del Piero’s goal helped Juve beat Atalanta 3-1 on the final day. This meant that they finished the season unbeaten. This is the first time in the history of Serie A that a team has acheived this over a 38 game season. In short, it’s a phenomenal achievement, in my eyes it’s better than Messi’s 50 league goals. Especially from the starting point. Juve finished 7th last year with a leaky defence. This year they’ve won the league by 4 points, have the best defence and have really done this all as a team. Their top scorer (Matri) has just 10 goals, but they have the highest number of different scorers with 21 (thanks to two more on the final day). I’ll be covering Juve’s achievement more in the coming weeks.

In terms of the outstanding issues, it was some what of a damp squib. Udinese started the day in 3rd. They won. Lecce started the day in 18th. They lost. There wasn’t really the drama that we’ve seen in the Premier League and La Liga. Among the Udinese goalscorers in a 2-0 win over 10th placed Catania was Di Natale. Despite being 34, he’s once again finished in the Top 5 scorers, this time with 23 goals. Whilst the goal against Catania improved his average, he’s still the Flat Track Bully of those with 10 goals or more with an average of 11.91. It’s slightly misleading in the sense that he has in fact scored against 5 Top 6 teams, it’s just the 10 against the Bottom 6 opponents that slightly skews it. He won’t care though, Champions League football is coming (providing he doesn’t retire as rumour has it).

The final scorers table based on opponent’s rankings at the time of playing shows that Fabrizio Miccoli is the Big Game Player in terms of Average (7.38) and goals against the Top 6 – with a decent offering of 9 hits. In terms of assists, i’ll be reviewing in the final season review, but he’s flying high there as well. A great season by the veteran Palermo forward.

Zlatman wins the golden boot with 28 goals and a decent averate of 10.93. Six goals against the best teams suggests he can be happy enough with his input this season. Milito scored again at the weekend in the 3-1 defeat to Lazio. That takes him into 2nd place on goals scored, and another goal against Top 6 teams. His average of 9.21 is the best of those with 20+ goals.

I’ll give a bit more detail in the season review, and also plan to compare Juventus’ unbeaten season with Arsenal’s in 2003-04 in the coming weeks.

Cheers,

Liam

Serie A Round 37

Bundle!

After several court cases, disgrace, relegation and six seasons of waiting, Italy’s most decorated team finally got their hands back on the Serie A title. And how. Only twice in the history of Italian Football has a team gone undefeated in the league and on both occasions, it was a 34 game season. Juve have now gone 37 games unbeaten. And the latest was enough to win the Serie A title for 2011-12, with a 2-0 away win over 14th placed Cagliari. Mirko Vucinic got things going in the 6th minute to settle Juve nerves. It was the Montengro International’s 9th goal of the season and whilst there’s an element of a flat track bully about his goals (average opponent 14.67), no one will care one bit after the often frustrating former Roma front man scored. An own goal from Canini settled things, and as soon as the final whistle went in the Milan Derby, the Old Lady had their 30th Italian title – or their 28th, depending on your view of the Calciopoli scandal. Of course, Juventus winning the title means one thing, and it’s big:

Yep, for the first time since 2002-03, Ibrahimovic has failed to win the league title. And ironically, it’s been his best season in terms of goalscoring – hitting a massive 28 league goals (10.93) in just 31 games. And perhaps the 1-1 draw at home to Juventus when Ibrahimovic was serving a suspension, was decisive. His latest goals, were against Inter Milan in the ‘away’ Milan derby. He hit two, against Top 6 Inter, to put AC Milan 2-1 up. At that score, the title whereabouts was going to be decided on the final day. However, Stramaccioni’s Inter are a different animal than the up and down form of Ranieri’s. Diego Milito continued his excellent season with his third hat trick of the season, to take his personal tally to 23 league goals. As with Ibrahimovic, it’s been the 32 year old’s best league return, matching the 23 in 37 he hit in Spain for Zaragoza back in 2006-07. This season however, his 23 have been scored in just 29 appearances, and this latest treble against 2nd placed Milan propelled his average opposition per goal to a decent 9.43, and taken his goals against Top 6 teams to a respectable 5. In what’s been a strange season for Inter, Milito has at times been a one man rescue act (think 4 versus Palermo), and the second highest league scorer at the club is Pazzini with just 5 goals. Maicon put the cherry on the cake for the Inter Milan fans and confirmed Juventus’s title with this typically Brazilian effort:

I’ll be reviewing Juventus’ full season stats as they won the title when the season is over, and in a lovely twist, if they do go unbeaten, i’ll be comparing Juventus’ unbeatables 2011-12 to Arsenal’s invincibles of 2003-04, just for kicks.

After the title was decided, all eyes will turn to the race for 3rd place and a route to the Champions League. Going into this weekend’s fixtures, Napoli held the much coveted spot behind Juventus and AC Milan. After this latest round, they’re now 5th. How so? Well after 10 points from 12, they chose a very bad time to lose. The 2-0 defeat to Bologna (9th), Napoli gave fell behind Udinese and Lazio. Udinese moved into 3rd after a routine win over 17th placed Genoa who will have their Serie A future decided next weekend. Di Natale (12.00) did what he has done so often this season, by scoring his 22nd goal of the season against a team in the bottom 6 – his 10th against such opponents. Lazio are just two points behind them after their first win in five games (2-0 away at 11th placed Atalanta), to give them hope, whilst Inter Milan’s win over city Rivals AC Milan, mean they’re in 6th and 3 points off third, but are unlikely to get it despite the good form shown under former Under 19 coach Stramaccioni.

In terms of the Average Opposition ranking, this weekend saw a good bit of movement. Most noteably, in terms of the wooden spoon, or Flat Track Bully tag. Despite lowering his average to 12.00, Di Natale managed to shake off the unwanted label as Novara’s Marco Rigoni hit a hat trick against bottom placed Cesena to take his tally into the require double figures, and his average down to 14.91. The 32 year old has been one highlight of a poor season for Novara, as he’s scored 11 from midfield, albeit with the help of penalties. His 11 goals haven’t trouble any Top 6 team in what is a well deserved Flat Track Bully title.

Fabrizio Miccoli’s hat trick in a 4-4 computer game of a match against 12th placed Chievo lowered his average to 7.38 in the race for the Big Game Player title. The nearest challenger is Marco Di Vaio, who’s Bologna are playing 8th placed Parma. This means he’s better off not scoring and hoping that Miccoli scores against 17th placed Genoa next weekend. That will see Di Vaio nick it right at the death, although Miccoli’s 9 goals against Top 6 opponents will at least see him finish at the top of the Top 6 goals list.

Elsewhere, Milito moved into 3rd place in the golden boot race with his hat trick – level with Cavani on 23. However, there’s a different of 2 places in the opponents they’ve scored against on average, in favour of Milito. Giovinco (9.47) continued his excellent recent form with another goal in another win for Parma – this time a 2-0 win at 13th placed Siena. That’s 5 goals for the Italian in the 6 games that the club have won in a row, a run that’s seen them climb to 8th place. It took them 26 games to win their previous 6.

The last thing to be decided this season is the final relegation spot, with Lecce in 18th on 36 points (GD-15) and Genoa on 39 points (GD-21). Lecce’s 1-0 home defeat to fellow strugglers Fiorentina meant that the Viola were safe for another season after they did “a Wigan” and lost only 1 game in the last 7, whilst beating both big teams and relegation rivals.

And just to finish, a quick look at one of the main reasons why Juve won the league, and Genoa and Lecce are fighting relegation – goals conceded:

Just three goals conceded against fellow Top 6 teams tells it’s own story. In fact, in conceding only 19 goals all season, they’re 13 goals better off than 2nd placed Milan, who have only let in a decent 32. And Juventus’s defence has been laregly unchanged from the personnel seen last season, which let in 47 as they finished 7th. Well played Conte.

The updates are running a little slower than usual as I get to grips with fatherhood, but each league will be reviewed in detail once the season has ended.

Cheers,

Liam

Serie A Round 36

The big news from the last two rounds is the race for the title. Despite dropping just two points from the last 27 available, Juventus are still only one point clear of AC Milan. Things were looking good for Juve after a cracking 4-0 away win over 19th Placed Novara at the weekend. Coming into last night’s game at home to 18th placed Lecce, it looked odds on for 9 wins in a row – and Marchisio’s 9th league goal of the season (13.11) after just 8 minutes, looked odds on to open the flood gates, but an 85th minute equaliser from Bertolacci gave both AC Milan hope of the title, and Lecce hope of survival. They’re now three points behind 17th placed Genoa with two games to go.

He’s certainly earned a special Zlatan hug

Of course, to be just one point behind means that AC Milan won their last two games. In Round 35 they thrashed 10th placed Siena 4-1 away. Smack bang in the middle of the table meant one thing, Ibrahimovic goals. And the big Swede scored a brace of them to take his personal tally to a career best of 26 league goals (11.31). But on this occasion he wasn’t the big news story, that was the goal scored by Antonio Cassano, back after recovering from a stroke earlier in the season. With the recent death of Morosini, and the scare for Patrice Muamba, it was certainly a good news story to see the talented but sometimes troubled Cassano back on the scoresheet. Also in that match, Nocerino (11.20) grabbed his 10th league goal of an impressive debut season for Milan. The Rossoneri followed the weekend win up with a 2-0 victory over Atalanta, thanks to goals from Robinho and Muntari.

Where will the title go? Well Juve will be favourites due to having the one point lead, but crucially because AC Milan have the Milan derby this weekend against a somewhat rejuvenated 6th placed Inter. Milan have won 4, lost 4 of games against Top 6 opponents this season, making this one hard to call. Juve have the easier task with an away game at 14th place Cagliari, though the home game against Lecce was supposed to be a banker as well. The final day sees Milan at home to relegated Novara whilst Juve face 10th placed Atalanta at home. Although 10th is slightly misleading as Atalanta had 6 points docked, which would have put them in 7th – not quite as straightforward.

Frankie say go mental and take your shirt off

The race for 3rd has seen significant change since the last update. Lazio have well and truly ballsed it up after taking just 2 points from their last five games. Whilst defeats to AC Milan and Udinese aren’t exactly shocking, the defeat and two draws to Lecca (18th), Novara (19th) and Siena (13th) were hardly expected. Last night’s draw with Siena was interesting because Mattia Destro continued his recent good goalscoring form. The 21 year old Italian striker, on loan from Genoa, scored his 6th goal in seven games to take his total to 11. Of these, four have now been against Top 6 sides – certainly a player to watch for the future. So with Lazio imploding after the injury to Klose, that meant the final Champions League spot was up for grabs. It may surprise readers that Inter Milan are only 3 points off 3rd, but in 6th, it’s unlikely they’ll make it. Currently it’s Napoli who hold the spot – level with Udinese on 58 points. And it’s largely due to mid table bully – Edinson Cavani. The talented forward (not in the big games), has scored four goals in as many games as Napoli first beat Roma (7th – unlucky Cav) and then Palermo (14th) last night. The South American striker now has 23 league goals for the season, with only two against the elite.

In fact, it’s been a great couple of rounds for the Top Scorers. As well as the aforemtioned Ibrahimovic, Destro and Cavani goals, plenty of the other leading lights were hitting the back of the onion net. Di Natale may be the flat track bully with an average of 11.76, but he now has a decent 5 goals against Top 6 opponents after scoring in Udinese’s 2-0 win against Lazio in the last round. He’s now only slightly worse than Ibra, Cavani and Osvaldo. In between the flat track bully and the big game player, there were also goals fro Palacio (Genoa vs 13th placed Bologna), Denis (vs 16th placed Fiorentina) and Giovinco, who has fired Parma back up the table to 8th after hitting 4 goals in 5 games. The diminutive (another word for short – think Maradona, Zola, Alan Wright) forward has a decent average of 9.21 this season, though goals against strugglers Lecce and Novara will have wiped out the positive impact of last night’s goal against Inter Milan in a 3-1 win. The team have now won five straight games after just one win in the previous nine.

The Big Game Player is still Miccoli, who scored his 13th of the season against 8th placed Catania, to leave his average ranked opponent per goal at 6.31. With two games to go, he looks set to land the coveted (in my head) title of Big Game Player – and 9 goals against the Top 6 teams suggest his is well deserved.

At the uglier end of the table, Novara’s 2-2 draw against Fiorentina confirms their relegation to Serie B, along with Cesena. That leaves one spot that’s reallistically going to be a straight fight between Genoa and Lecce. Genoa in 17th managed to put a run of 13 games without a win behind them with a massive 2-1 win over Cagliari (15th) last night. Whilst they have a tricky game against Top 6 Udinese this weekend, Lecce face fellow strugglers Fiorentina. It should go down to the final day of the season.

Cheers,

Liam

Serie A Rounds 33 & 34

After the sad death of Piermario Morosini last weekend, Serie A returned to business as usual, which means something crazy would probably happen. And it did. Relegation threatened Genoa were being so outplayed at home to 13th placed Siena that the Ultras (the hardcore/mental fans) decided that they’d seen enough. To cut a long story short, they invaded the pitch and demanded the players take off the shirts as they didn’t deserve to wear them. I think you’ll agree, crazy. For more on that strange story, click here.

You can’t blame them for getting a bit frustrated though, the 4-1 home defeat was their eleventh game without a win, a run that’s seen them fall into a relegation scrap – with them currently sitting just one point ahead of 18th placed Lecce. But it wasn’t always like this. They started the season brilliantly, with a draw against Atalanta (now 11th) and wins against Lazio (now 3rd) and Catania (now 8th) – carrying on the good form from the tail end of last season’s 4 wins in 6 as they finished 10th. Unfortunately for them, the first three games were the highlight of the season as they haven’t won back to back games since. As a result, former Manager Luigi De Canio has been put in charge to fight off relegation – something he didn’t quite manage back in 2004 with them. And it hasn’t been a great start with a 1-0 defeat away at AC Milan yesterday.

Back to the Top of the Table, and Juventus’ charge towards the title continued at the weekend after they made it six wins in a row. This time, the lambs to the slaughter were 5th placed Roma. They conceded four without reply as the Old Lady showed Roma’s young upstarts how it’s done. Chilean midfielder Arturo Vidal Prado scored a brace to make it four goals in six games in his debut season for Juve and six in total. Whilst Juventus don’t have an outstanding goalscorer in the team, the run of six consecutive wins has seen the squad effort really magnified with ten different scorers in this short time. And after struggling to score goals earlier in the season (leading to a lot of drawn games), they’re now banging in the goals with 18 in the 6 wins. The teams they’ve beaten have included Lazio (3rd), Napoli (4th) and now Roma (5th) – proving they’re doing it against the best. Last night they faced bottom team Cesena. Surprisingly, they only scored the one goal through Marco Boriello’s first goal for Juventus. The journeyman striker is on loan from Roma and his goal not only relegated Cesena, it also damaged his former club AC Milan’s title ambitions.

Because the gap at the top is 3 points after Milan dropped points at home 12th Bologna. In fitting with his average, Ibrahimovic scored his 24th goal of the season in the last minute to keep the gap within reach. This was followed up with a 1-0 win against 17th placed Genoa earlier today courtesy of Prince Boateng’s 5th league goal of the season. Two home games against relgation battlers should have seen maximum points and a lot more goals but the last five games have seen just one goal a game, and only two wins, as they’ve had a Champions League hangover – similar to Napoli. With four games to go, it could still go either way.

In terms of the average opposition rankings Ibrahimovic’s top scoring 24 goals have been against a relatively lowly opposition of 11.42. He specialises in scoring against mid to lower table teams as shown by just the 4 goals against the big guns. He has none against Juventus, Inter Milan, Udinese or Napoli this season. Another prolific scorer is Edinson Cavani. Like Zlatanho he also specialises against the mid-lower teams, with an even lower average ranked opponent per goal of 11.57. He only has the 2 goals against the decent teams this year. Di Natale has the lowest ranking with 12.20 for his 20 goals, meaning he’s the official flat track bully, but he does have the 4 against Top 6 teams – or 20% of his goals against the top 30% of the teams.

The big game player continues to be Fabrizio Miccoli with 6.17, though he’s less of a prolifc scorer than the mean above him. Giovinco’s return to goalscoring ways hasseen him score against both Novara (19th) and Cagliari (14th) in recent weeks – pushing down his once leading average to a still decent 8.83. Sneaking in at the bottom of the list after hitting double figures is Siena’s Mattia Destro. The 21 year old is on loan from Genoa in what looks like a poor piece of business – as his parent club have Palacio on 17 goals, and then no one on more than 5. Destro’s latest goal was in the 1-1 draw at 12th placed Bologna, and made it five in their last six games for the young forward. His 10 goals have been worth 6 points, and with only one strike against the bottom 6, he’s far from a flat track bully. Goals against Udinese (5th) and Lazio (then 4th) would back this up.

With the title being a two horse race, the other main prize on offer is the third and final Champions League spot. Although it appears as though no one wants it. In the last two games, Lazio, Udinese and Roma have manged 2 points between them with four defeats. Rubbing their hands in glee were Napoli who are back to winning ways against Novara (19th) and Lecce (18th) after three straight defeats, with former Napoli man Mascara, scored the winning goal against Lazio last night. The gap is now just 3 points between 3rd placed Lazio and 6th placed Inter. Inter?! Whaaaaat? That’s right, whilst Roma have been messing about with three defeats in four games, Inter Milan have quietly sneaked into 6th place with 11 points from 15 on offer. Stramaccioni’s men drew 0-0 at Fiorentina at the weekend in a clean sheet scandal, before Wesley Sneijder inspired them to a 3-1 win over 4th placed Udinese last night. It’s about time he did something, and nice of the Europeans to finally help out the Argentinians.

With just 4 games to go, it’s all to play for at the top, whilst at the bottom, it looks like a straight out fight between Genoa and Lecce to avoid joining Cesena and surely Novara in Serie B next season. Followers of the great Fiorentina team of the 90s with Batistuta and Rui Costa will be glad to see that they’re now 6 points clear of the drop after some great recent displays. The last 4 games have included wins against Milan (2nd) and Roma (then 6th) (both thanks to Jovetic), and a draw against then 7th placed Inter Milan.

Cheers,

Liam

Serie A Round 32

Maverick

He may be 37, he’s may be playing the last football games of his career and his legs may have gone. But you don’t need to run much to take a good free kick. And Alessandro Del Piero knows how to take a good free kick. If Andrea Pirlo is standing aside to let someone else take a free kick, then they must be half decent. Del Piero’s latest set piece special came in a big game in all senses. Firstly, due to AC Milan’s away win at Chievo on Tuesday night – thanks to Inter Milan’s Sulley Muntari – Juventus found themselves trailing the Rossoneri by a point. Secondly, they were facing 3rd placed Lazio, who were fresh from beating fellow Top 6ers Napoli at the weekend. The pressure was most definitely on. All seemed to be going well at first as Pepe (8.83) put Juve 1-0 up after 30 minutes. However, Lazio’s in form Stefano Mauri clearly hadn’t read the script and equalised on the stroke of half time with his 3rd of the season (against Roma, Napoli and Juve = big game player). And it was looking to stay that way until substitue Del Piero came on with 17 minutes to spare and decided the game in the 84th minute. I’m not sure if they have Roy of the Rovers in Italy, but he fits the bill (Alessandro of the Old Lady?).

In truth, a draw would have flattered Lazio as Juve had 26 shots and 71% possesion – but it’s the large number of draws that mean they haven’t already tied up the title. This site is all about trying to identify the big game players, and although he’s featured sparingly this season, he’s still able to pull it out on the big occasion. Juve have now won five games in a row, and are on the verge of going the season unbeaten. Even with that epic run, the title could still go either way, and it’ll take a brave man to put his neck on the line to predict the winner. I am not a brave man.

Whilst Lazio dropped points against Juventus, they weren’t made to suffer too much, due to a large favour by city Rivals AS Roma. Luis Enrique is trying instill a new philosophy on the club, but at the moment they’re consistently inconsistent – their last 12 matches have seen 6 wins and 6 draws. However, they have been excellent at home, with only AC Milan and Juventus picking up more points. On this occasion, they hosted 4th placed Udinese in the battle of Top 6 teams. Udinese’s recent poor form and Roma’s excellent home record meant that the 3-1 win for the hosts was expected – albeit with the help of two goals in the last 5 minutes. One notable scorer was Francesco Totti, hitting just his 5th league goal of the season. Whilst Del Piero has only 2 league goals, he also has 2 goals in the cup – leaving his 4 domestic goals this season against AC Milan, Inter Milan, Lazio and Roma. Compare that to Totti’s 5 goals against an average opposition of 16th, and it’s easy to see who’s winning the battle of the ageing number 10s.

Also in the Top 6, Napoli continued their terrible run with a 3-1 home defeat by Atalanta. You know you’re in trouble when Inter Milan are level on points with you. And level they are – as Diego Milito’s brace made it 7 points from 9 for new manager Stramaccioni as they beat 13th place Siena 2-1.

And Milito’s double takes him onto 20 league goals for the season –  at an average of 10.55. The fact that he only has 2 goals against the Top 6 opposition is slightly offset by only scoring 2 against bottom 6 teams. He’s not a Big Game Player, and he’s not a Flat Track Bully – so where does that leave him? Useful I guess? On the subject of Flat Track Bullies, Osvaldo’s goal against Udinese not only added another Top 6 opponent to his list, but it also improved his average opponent to 11.45 (just below Ibrahimovic), meaning that the Flat Track Bully tag is back on Di Natale with 12.20.

Miccoli still looks untouchable on the Big Game Player tracker with the best average and most goals against the Top 6, whilst there’s a welcome return for Sebastien Giovinco who was back on the scoresheet for Parma in a 6 pointer at the bottom against Novara (19th). Lecce’s Di Michele also helped increase his team’s chances of staying up in a 2-1 win away at 8th placed Catania. This also increased his average to a decent 8.73.

Elsewhere at the bottom, 17th placed Genoa could only draw 1-1 with bottom team Cesena courtesy of goals by Rossi and Mutu. Whilst looking at it from an average opposition point of view wouldn’t really impress much, there’s a different pressure applied to relegation dog fights, and these games are all big games at this stage of the season.

That’s all for this Italian round up, but please remember to check out the Player Comparison section, and send me a message/comment if there’s a head to head you’d like to see given the average opposition treatment.

Thanks,

Liam

Serie A Round 31

Amauri counts his goals this season

After just one win in their last eight games, there seemed to be absolutely no chance for 17th placed Fiorentina travelling to an in form AC Milan team. Well, it’s a funny old game because the Viola won 2-1 at the San Siro. It looked as though business as usual as I Am Zlatan opened the scoring from the penalty spot for his 23rd goal of the season (average opposition per goal 11.39). He’s reached this total in just 25 games, and is just two goals short of his best league total of 25 which he reached in his last season with Inter. It was the Swedish striker’s 30th goal in all competitions. But this isn’t about Z-Vic, this is about Fiorentina’s turn around in form, and the title race. Stevan Jovetic equalised with his 13th goal of the season (9.23), in what was his first goal in 6 games. He now has 4 goals against Top 6 opponents. Jovetic then turned provider in the 88th minute as he tee’d up Brazilian/Italian Amauri for the winning goal, and his first for Fiorentina in ten games. The big striker did of course used to play for Juventus, but hilariously, he absolutely hates them after broken promises, and some poor performances from him (see more here). He has a funny way of showing it.

That defeat for AC Milan opened up the chance for draw specialists Juventus to regain top spot for the first time since round 23. Juve remain the only unbeaten team in all of the major European Leagues, and whilst they have drawn almost half of their games (14 of 31), they have hit form at the right time. Having won the previous three games, confidence was high for Conte’s men, but they were facing a tricky task away at Palermo, who had the 4th best home record going into the fixture. Not a problem. Goals from Quagliarella and Bonucci gave Juve their 4th win in a row, at an aggregate score of 12-0. Their top scorer (Matri) only has 10 league goals, but the rest of the squad are now chipping in, to help out. Juve now have a two point lead at the top of the table, and with just seven games left, it could go either way. The good news for AC Milan, and football in general was that Antonio Cassano made his comeback after a minor stroke earlier in the season. He could prove very important to the run in.

In the battle for the third and final Champions League spot, it appears to be advantage Lazio after they beat 5th placed Napoli 3-1 in the showpiece game of the weekend. Napoli have now gone four games without a win, as the hangover from the Champions League knockout by Chelsea looms over them. That, and the fact that they’ve had a tough run of fixtures. Their last four games have been against an average ranked opposition of 4.5 – Udinese, Catania, Juventus, and now Lazio. Also in the hunt for a top three spot were Udinese and Roma. Luis Enrique’s team were given a footballing lesson as they lost 4-2 away at 18th placed Lecce. A brace by David Di Michele and another two from Udinese owned Luis Muriel proved the difference. Muriel’s two goals were impressively taken, and will help his parent club. Strangely, he’s one of 13 players on loan at the club. Udinese remain just 3 points behind Lazio after ending a poor run of form with a 3-1 win over Parma (16th). Di Natale scored his 150th Serie A goal, and 20th of the season (12.2).

It was no surprise that Di Natale scored against Parma – he’s scored almost half of his goals this season against teams in the Bottom 6. He shares the worst average opponent per goal with Roma’s Osvaldo, who gets the Flat Track Bully tag as he only has two goals vs Top 6 opponents, compared to Di Natale’s rather more respectable four. Ibrahimovic’s goal against Fiorentina, means that his 11.39 is now the third lowest of the leading scorers.

On the flipside, Fabrizio Miccoli looks like he’s going to be the Big Game player for the season, with both the highest average ranked opponent per goal with 6.17 and also the most goals against the Top 6 teams, with nine. Di Michele’s double against 6th placed Roma means he makes the list, and with a decent average of 8.80, the former West Ham forward can be classed as a big game player (4 goals against Top 6 teams for the season). Genoa’s Rodrigo Palacio continued his good scoring season with his third goal in as many games – his 17th overall.

Comedy club, Inter Milan have had their honey moon period under new manager Stramaccioni ended after one win. They drew 2-2 away at 12th placed Cagliari. Carrying on the trend from last week, it was an all Argentinian affair as Esteban Cambiasso got in on the act, as well as regular scorer Diego Milito (10.61). This was Inter’s 10th league goal in a row scored by Argentinians, and 15th in a row by South American players. You have to go back to January for an Italian scorer (Pazzini).

There’s another round of fixtures this midweek which could have a large impact at the top of the table. AC Milan travel to 9th placed Chiveo, whilst Juventus face a tricky game at home to 3rd placed Lazio. Hoping Lazio will slip up are Roma vs Udinese who meet in Rome on Wednesday. At the bottom of the table, bottom team Cesena face 17th placed Genoa, whilst 16th Parma host 19th Novara. All to play for. What’s that? You want me to put my neck on the line and make predictions based on the stats? Well okay then….

1. Alessandro Matri is Juve’s leading scorer and has 4 goals against Top 6 teams. He’s started te last two games on the bench, but is due a goal after scoring against AC Milan back in February.
2. For Lazio, they’ll be hoping that Miroslav Klose makes a speedy recovery after missing the last three games. If he’s fit, he’s a big game player (5 vs Top 6 teams), and is most likely to score. If not fit, then Lazio have faced team in the Top 6 on 12 occasions this season and have 6 wins, 4 draws and 2 defeats. Playing away, the record is Played 7, Won 4, Drawn 2, Lost 1. So that’s clear then? A draw, as they’re playing unbeatable Juventus.
3. Ibrahimovic to score against 9th placed Chievo. He specialises against mid table opponents.
4. Genoa hot shot Palacio to score against Cesena.

Cheers,

Liam

Serie A Round 30

There’s only one place to start this week, and that’s at the San Siro. Andrea Stramaccioni took control of his first game for Inter Milan after the sacking of Claudio Ranieri. Despite every man and his dog being linked with the job, owner Moratti insists that this is not a temporary appointment and that the 36 year old (younger than Zanetti) has the job. He’s never managed at senior level before, but is fresh from winning the Next Gen Series (think of a Champions League for Under 19s). In what appears to be an attempt to copy the Guardiola model at Barcelona (but without the history and connection to the club), the young manager was introduced to the media, only for Mad Mario Balotelli to turn up at the press conference – as you do.

Inter Milan + Argentinians = Happiness

Needless to say, the new manager effect kicked in and Inter put behind them a run of 1 win in 10 to over come 14th placed Genoa. But that’s only half the story. The final score was 5-4! It’s clear that the Inter defence needs a lot of work on it. They’ve let in 42 goals – which is the 7th worst in the league. Although it was a new manager, it was an old tradition of the club that shone through – all of their five goals were scored by Argentinians. Part of the reason the club was founded was to create an International club for all nationalities. Argentina have certainly featured heavily in the club’s history from legendary manager Herrara to the current squad of players.

On this occasion, Diego Milito (10.53) did what he does best and scored against mid table opposition. That’s 13 of his 17 goals that have been scored against the middle 8 teams – thanks to a hat trick against Genoa. After a very disappointing 2010-11 season in which he only scored 5 league goals, the 32 year old striker now has returned to the sort of form that he showed on the way to the treble in 2010. Also in on the act was and Mauro Zarate, who’s season can be firmly described as disappointing. This was just his first goal in the league, in his 17th apperance. The other goal was scored by Walter Samuel who was obviously too busy attacking to worry about defending. Add in Cambiasso, Zanetti, and Ricardo Alvarez, and there’s a pretty strong Argentinian contingent at the club.

And South Americans scoring in Serie A this weekend seemed to be a theme. Other South American scorers this weekend were Cagliari’s Pinilla (Chile), Lazio’s Scaloni (Argentinian), Roma’s Osvaldo (Argentinian born), Genoa’s Palacio (Argentinian), Roma’s Marquinho (Brazil) and Hernandez (Uruguay), Vidal Pardo (Chile) of Juventus, and AC Milan’s Robinho (Brazil). You probably get the idea by now. Plenty of South American Stars do well in Italy.

In the race for the title, Juventus continued their unbeaten season, and recent good form with a 3-0 win over Napoli (4th). What’s more impressive is that Napoli are currently second in the form table over the last eight games (Behind only AC Milan). Mirko Vucinic, Vidal Prado and Quagliarella were on the scoresheet against the Top 6 opposition. That’s now 3 wins in a row for the Turin giants, and coupled with AC Milan’s 1-1 draw against 7th placed Catania – courtesy of goals from Robinho and Catania’s Spolli. This leaves just 2 points at the top of the table, and AC Milan have to face Inter in their penultimate game.

Elsewhere, a couple of teams who certainly aren’t anywhere near the top of the form table are Fiorentina and Udinese. Fiorentina have just one win in eight games, and are freefalling towards the relegation places. They now sit just one place above the relegation zone. At the other end of the table, but in even worse form are Udinese. They’ve gone one worse than Fiorentina, and have just one win in nine games. Are they starting to miss Alexis Sanchez? The Barcelona winger scored 12 league goals for Udinese last year, as they finished in the Champions League places. The current form has seen them drop from 3rd to 5th.

In terms of the Average Opposition ranking, it’s pretty much as we were at the top. Fabrizio Miccoli remains the big game player with both the best average (6.17) and the most goals against Top 6 teams, with 9. He’s also the clear leader in the assists table with 12 (against good opponents again). He’s without doubt the big game player in Serie A, and all done with a very mid table Palermo (9th). Bologna’s Marco Di Vaio has done well with an average opponent of 7.80, with four goals against Top 6 teams, though has one more than Miccoli against the Bottom 6 with…..one. Not bad.

At the other end, Roma’s Osvaldo is the flat track bully with an average ranked opponent of 12.20 per goal. He was on the score sheet against Novara in a cracking 5-2 win for Luis Enrique’s team. The fact that Novara were ranked in 19th at the start of play certainly didn’t help the Argentinian Italian.

That’s all for now, AC Milan have just been knocked out of the Champions League by Barcelona, but Nocerino continued his best goal scoring season with the Italian club’s goal in a 3-1 defeat. It’s been quite the improvement in front of goal from the former Palermo man, who has now reached double figures in all competitions for the first time in his career. And scoring away at the Nou Camp/Camp Nou (remove as applicable) is always classed as a big game.

Cheers,

Liam

Serie A Round 29

Maybe if he understood football better?

Plenty to talk about in the Serie A round up. First and foremost though is the sacking of Claudio Ranieri from Inter Milan after just 6 months. After an initial turn around, 7 straight wins followed, before elimination from the Champions League to an average Marseille team, and then 1 win in 10 league games, culminating in a 2-0 defeat in the Derby D’Italia to Juventus. It’s fair to say it’s been a bit of a roller coaster for the former Chelsea man. In 26 league games he won 12, lost 10 and drew 4. He actually did well to last so long, Gasperini before him only managed 3 league games. Last season had Benitez and Leonoardo. It’s fair to say that they’re having trouble getting over Mourinho. Ranieri will no doubt pop up again somewhere. Former clubs Valencia and Chelsea are managerless at the moment….

One good thing to come out of the game was the return of Del Piero. He’s been a peripheral figure at the club this year with just the odd appearance here and there (mainly in the cup), but he scored the decisive 2nd goal. This is his last season at Juventus after almost 20 years, so it’s a nice way end his last Derby D’Italia. Although Inter were outside the Top 6, it’s still one of the biggest games in the Italian Football calendar. To see the Del Piero goal – click here. It’s not a brilliant goal, I just like Del Piero, and he’s not gonna be around much longer. I think you could file this one under “tidy finish”. It was his first league goal of the season, but his two cup goals have been against Milan and Roma – Big. Game. Player.

Inter’s defeat to Juve kept the gap at the top of the table to 4 points after Milan’s win against Roma in the other big game. In a tight 2-1 win, it was Ibrahimovic who made the difference once again. He grabbed himself both Milan goals against Top 6 opponents to increase his average opposition ranking to 11.23 and his top 6 goals to four. Milan now have 4 wins in a row.

Miccoli has been up to old tricks again with another Top 6 goal – this time against 5th placed Udinese. This increases his stronghold on the Big Game Player title, bringing his goals against the best in the league to an impressive 9, and his average opposition score to a league high of 6.17. Also on the scoresheet against Udinese (in round 28) was Napoli striker Edinaon Cavani. His double in a 2-2 draw were his first against top 6 opponents. He’s very much the Falcao of Serie A.

Of course all these goals against Udinese have seen Lazio slip into 3rd spot, which is crucially the last Champions League position after the Bundesliga tool the 4th spot. Speaking of  Udinese, it’s Di Natali who remains the flat track bully with an average of 12. Osvaldo is his nearest challenger with 11.44, but his average was helped out by scoring against league leaders Milan in the 2-1 defeat.

And finally, at the bottom of the table, Cesena extended their winless run to 11 games with a 2-2 draw against 17th placed Parma. This was a pretty good result for them, as they’ve only picked up 3 points of the last 33 available. Unsurprisingly, this leaves them adrift at the bottom of the table, though they do have slight hope, as the second relegation 6 pointer too place between 19th placed Novara and 18th place Lecce. This ended in a 0-0 draw, although strangely, Novara are 8th in the form table (last 8 games), and Lecce are 10th.

Cheers,

Liam