Serie A round up: where the top teams can improve & what they should be concerned about
Juventus
Why the can improve: despite numerous injuries, and the inability of most of their summer additions to fully fit, the defending Serie A champs are in first place in the league and in very good shape to qualify out of their Champions League group. Just like when Tevez arrived in Turin, the reports of Higuain being overweight didn’t get in the way of the Argentine striker scoring a boat load of goals.
But the other new additions have some big margins for improvement- while Dani Alves has been an upgrade over the Lichtsteiner we saw in past two seasons; he has not had the impact of Alex Sandro on the other side of the pitch. So far Pjanic’s main contribution has been to replace Pirlo’s ability to decide games with set pieces, and Pjaca is starting to get into “oggetto misterioso territory” because of his inability to stay healthy. Benatia has played pretty well but has not surprisingly been slowed down by injuries- he will get more opportunities with Barzagli out until the new year.
Allegri teams have always tended to improve in the second half of the season, and Juventus should benefit from Dybala’s return as well as the hope that the new additions fully integrate into the squad. While Juventus has disappointed in the Champions League, this season it doesn’t look like finishing second in the group would have a big impact on the caliber of team you can get in the draw.
Reasons for concerns: the fact that Juventus has acquired so many foreign players has some wondering if the lack of an Italian identity has impacted the player’s willingness to sacrifice for the jersey. Despite many injuries to the defense, Rugani hasn’t had many opportunities to play and that is a long term concern since Juventus has an older defense.
Even with Marchisio’s return, it looks like all the losses in the midfield in recent years (Pirlo, Vidal and Pogba) have caught up with Juventus. Allegri still hasn’t figured where to play Pjanic, and while Khedira has stayed fairly healthy there is always the concern another injury is right around the corner.
Roma
Why they can improve: the giallorossi have the best attack in Serie A in large part thanks to Dzeko and Salah who have been tremendous. While the club has suffered many injuries (Florenzi and Mario Rui are greatly missed), Spalletti is finally able to count on Rudiger who should bring stability to the backline.
Kevin Strootman’s return has brought depth to a midfield that features numerous quality players like Nainggolan, Paredes and De Rossi. It’s also likely that Roma will get more from their Brazilian trio of Gerson, Alisson and especially Bruno Peres in the second half of the season. Even without Salah in January, Dzeko should be able to continue scoring and opening spaces for his teammates.
Reasons for concern: the fact that Mohamed Salah will be playing in the Africa Cup is a very problematic variable, especially if you remember how different Gervinho was when he returned from that tournament a few years ago. Spalletti better hope that El Shaarawy will have as strong a second half of the season in 2017 as he did in 2016.
It will also be very interesting to see how new sporting director Frederic Massara does in his first transfer window in charge. Last winter his predecessor Sabatini was able to land both El Shaarawy and Perotti who have both performed very well- will Massara be able to find someone to help compensate for Salah’s absence? He will also have to deal with giving Manolas and Nainggolan extensions after they were heavily pursued by Premier League clubs last summer.
Milan
Why they can improve: considering how many young players find themselves playing key roles for Montella there is margin for improvement. In addition some of the summer additions, especially Pasalic and Lapadula, are finally starting to contribute- and with the imminent completion of the sale to Chinese investors no Serie A clubs is expected to make a bigger splash on transfer market next January.
Milan has also shown the ability to win against the “provinciali” teams and when they don’t play particularly well; these were qualities that were sorely lacking in recent seasons. Paletta has also turned out to be an ideal partner for Romagnoli since returning from his loan to Atalanta.
Reasons for concern: while having many young players means there are margins for improvement, there is also the risk for inconsistency and for the other Serie A coaches to eventually figure out how to stop them. Carlos Bacca is also struggling to answer the questions of those who wondered if his style of play would fit with Montella, who likes to have his strikers involved with the run of play.
Milan will need to find a significant upgrade in the midfield to increase their chances of returning to the Champions League, and in the January window it’s fairly hard to land a big name. It will be interesting to see how the rossoneri operate on the transfer market since there will be a significant transition from Galliani to the Fassone/Mirabelli duo.
Napoli
Why they can improve: while last season Sarri ran Allan, Jorginho and Hamsik into the ground because he had no viable backups, both Zielinski and Diawara have shown why they were on the radar of top European clubs. Maksimovic has also taken advantage of Albiol’s injury, and the fact he has gained confidence in Sarri’s system should help once Koulibaly leaves for the Africa Cup.
Napoli has gotten nothing out of new additions Rog and Tonelli, and they could come in handy in the next few weeks. While Milik’s absence has absolutely crushed Napoli’s ability to score, other players who used the same surgeon Napoli hired for the Polish striker returned fairly quickly and performed well.
Reasons for concern: Napoli find themselves in sixth place and have 4 less points than this time last year. They no longer feel unbeatable at the San Paolo stadium and Milan has the opportunity to improve considerably during the January window. Sarri will also lose both Ghoulam and Koulibaly to the Africa Cup, and Napoli has really struggled without these two linchpins to their defense.
While Napoli will likely sign another striker in January, they desperately need Gabbiadini to get going before then- if he can’t score in Sarri’s system playing with Callejon, Insigne, Mertens and Hamsik then maybe he would be better off being main man at a club like Bologna.
Inter
Why they can improve: turns out that hiring a manager who has no connection to Serie A just two weeks before the season starts is a huge gamble. While de Boer could have used more time, he had lost the confidence of his players rather quickly because he was not set up to succeed. Pioli isn’t a very sexy name, but he did very well when Bologna hired him in the middle of the 2011/12 season and he did lead Lazio to the preliminary round of the Champions League- more importantly, he knows Serie A very well.
Inter has also gotten very little from some of their top acquisitions in the past few seasons- especially Kondogbia, Ansaldi and Gabigol- Pioli has been tasked with re energizing them. While Icardi has brought a lot of drama off the pitch, he keeps on scoring very frequently- he can be even more decisive with better talent around him.
Reasons for concern: the lack of depth on defense has really hurt Inter, especially because of Murillo’s regression. This time last year the Colombian defender was linked to Barcelona and Real Madrid after his great start in Serie A, but in 2016 he has really struggled. The nerazzurri may look to sign another center back and wingback in January, but by then it may be too late to make a serious run for a Champions League spot.
Lazio
Why they can improve: despite losing Bastos and De Vrij for most of the first half of the season, Lazio’s defense has improved compared to last season in large part thanks to the performances of Wallace and Hoedt. While it would have been a lot of fun to see Bielsa managing in Serie A, after what we saw with de Boer maybe keeping Simone Inzaghi turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Ciro Immobile has been able to replace Klose very well, and both Keita’ and Felipe Anderson are having bounce back seasons supporting him. Both Cataldi and Milinkovic Savic have huge margins for improvement and should benefit from Biglia’s return from injury.
Reasons for concern: unlike the season in which they qualified for the preliminary round of the Champions League, there are numerous Serie A teams with at least as much talent as Lazio (and in most cases more) competing to finish behind Juventus.
@DavidAmoyal
