Summer talk in Italy has been monopolized by the two Milan teams with AC Milan picking up a disgraced Ronaldinho from Barcelona while Inter put ex-Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho under contract. Here's how the teams stack up after ten weeks.
1. AC Milan (10-7-1-2 | 22pts)
After a rough start which saw them lose out against bottom-tiered Bologna (1-2) and Reggina (0-2), the Rossoneri rebounded in their third week with a convincing 4-1 win against Lazio. They have gone undefeated since, their only blemish being a 0-0 draw against Cagliari. And to think, they've done all this without Pirlo is pretty amazing. The arrival of Ronaldinho has paid off so far. The Brazilian midfielder is the leading scorer of his team with four goals to his name. He was also the lone scorer in the Milan Derby, providing a 1-0 win to Milan. It took a while for him and Kaka to get in sync since Kaka was injured for the first few games, but ever since he's been back, Ka-Pa-Ro has been firing on all cylinders.
The only problem that I'm seeing with Milan right now is their slow defense. I will never deny the fact that Maldini is a legend but I don't he'll go past this season. He and Kaladze look like turtles against speedy forwards. In defensive midfield, Flamini hasn't been brilliant but he's done well enough to have eight appearances in Serie A so far.
2. Udinese (10-6-3-1 | 21pts)
It's surprising to see Udinese so far up in the standings. Surprisingly, their only loss came against Juventus and the 1-0 scoreline suggests that it could have gone either way. Their 3-1 win against Roma is probably their biggest achievement so far since they haven't met any big teams just yet (excluding Juventus and Roma).
3. Inter Milan (10-6-3-1 | 21pts)
Like Udinese, Mourinho's men have only one loss so far (0-1 against Milan), but they'll curse themselves for the number of draws they got against weaker teams, namely Sampdoria (1-1), Genoa (0-0), and Fiorentina (also 0-0). Like with his old club, Chelsea, José Mourinho started the season by putting his team in a 4-5-1 formation with newcomers Mancini and Quaresma acting as wingers. Lately though, he has shown the ability to shift his team to a 4-4-2 with either Adriano, Bolatelli, or Crespo acting as Ibrahimovic's partner. Inter players don't look quite comfortabe with the new tactics yet, if they are, they seem to have a lot of trouble with the final ball. They should fix those weaknesses if they want to move up.
4. Napoli (10-6-2-2 | 20pts)
The season is still young but Napoli has gone off to a good start by surprising a couple of teams – defeating both Juventus (2-1), and Lazio (1-0). However, their three-game winning streak was ended when Milan defeated them 1-0 in the 10th week.
5. Lazio (10-6-1-3 | 19pts)
The problem with Lazio right now is consistency. They started the season with two wins, conceding only one goal in that period before getting crushed 4-1 by Milan in the third week. They continued with other wins, again conceding only one goal, then suffered a draw against Lecce, and lost two more games after that. It seems like every time they concede more than one goal, they're not able to rise up to the challenge.
6. Juventus (10-5-3-2 | 18pts)
Led by the eternals Alessandro Del Piero and Pavel Nedved, The Old Lady is keeping pace with both the Serie A and the Champions League. They started the season with a disappointing 1-1 draw against Fiorentina before rolling on with two consecutive wins against Udinese (1-0) and Cagliari (1-0). The next four weeks weren't too good as they picked up only two points, getting two draws and two losses which forced them out of the top ten. They climbed back up with a three-game winning streak in which Del Piero got one goal and Neved got two. The feel-good story out of Juventus isn't only the return of Del Piero as a match-changing player, but also his partnership with newcomer Amauri who has five goals in ten appearances so far this season. His tall, hulking presence in the box is an easy target for Nedved's cross while Del Piero offers him great support by simply hovering about.
7. Genoa (10-5-2-3 | 17pts)
The Red-Blues started a commotion early in the season when they defeated AC Milan 2-0 in the second week. They also surprised AS Roma (won 3-1), and Inter Milan (drew 0-0). They never lost two games in a row so far which definitely makes them a team to watch.
8. Fiorentina (10-5-2-3 | 17pts)
Like I said before, Fiorentina surprised Juventus in the first week of the season when Gilardino scored a late-equalizer to make it 1-1. They didn't do too well after that, losing two of their next three games, but they found their form back with a four-game winning streak. A 1-0 loss against Siena in the tenth week of the season won't go down too well with manager Prandelli.
9. Palermo (10-5-1-4 | 16pts)
Palermo is another team that managed to surprise Juventus, winning their confrontation 2-1. They also defeated Roma 3-1.
10. Catania (10-4-3-3 | 15pts)
Drew 1-1 against Juventus in the fourth week. They haven't been able to perform consistently, finishing the first ten weeks on a two-game losing streak.
11. Atalanta (10-4-2-4 | 14pts)
They started the season well with two consecutive wins, but it's all gone to waste as they found themselves picking five points in their last five games (one win, two draws, two losses).
12. Siena (10-3-3-4 | 12pts)
There's really nothing to say about a team that got only three wins in the span of ten games.
13. Lecce (10-2-5-3 | 11pts)
Lecce is hanging on by getting draw after draw after draw. They need to learn how to win a couple.
14. Cagliari (10-3-1-6 | 10pts)
Cagliari started the season atrociously with five straight losses. A 0-0 draw against Milan in the sixth week seems to have rejuvenated the team which lost only one game from then on.
15. Sampdoria (9-2-4-3 | 10pts)
Sampdoria have a lot of trouble filling up the net as their biggest win so far is 2-0 against Bologna.
16. Torino (10-2-2-6 | 8pts)
17. Roma (9-2-1-6 | 7pts)
For Roma, the saying is usually “where Totti goes, Roma follows.” However, the loss of Mancini during the summer seems to have been fatal to this team as their attacking options are now pretty limited.
18. Bologna (10-2-0-8 | 6pts)
After defeating AC Milan in the first week, it's been a downhill slide for Bologna who have only two wins so far.
19. Chievo (10-1-3-6 | 6pts)
20. Reggina (10-1-2-7 | 5pts)
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