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Alrighty, the world cup is over. I invite you all to talk about all things calcio here.

Here's how the top of the table stands:
Napoli ------- 41
Milan -------- 33
Juventus ---- 31
Lazio -------- 30
Inter --------- 30
Atalanta ---- 27
Roma -------- 27
Udinese ----- 24
Torino ------- 21
Fiorentina -- 21

Goal scorers:
Osimhen (Napoli) - 9
Arnautović (Bologna) - 8
Lookman (Atalanta) - 7
Lautaro Martinez (Inter) - 7
Nzola (Spezia) - 7
Beto (Udniese) - 6
Dia (Salernitana) - 6
Leão (Milan) - 6
Džeko (Inter) - 6
Immobile (Lazio) - 6
Kvaratskhelia (Napoli) - 6
Vlahović (Juventus) - 6
Barella (Inter) - 5
Dybala (Roma) - 5
Giroud (Milan) - 5

Spalletti's Napoli, after losing the likes of Koulibaly, Insigne, Mertens, and Fabian Ruiz, are seemingly unstoppable. Kvaratskhelia has been a superstar and Kim Min-Jae turned Koulibaly into a distant memory.
Maradona is clearly calling the shots from above, as Argentina win the World Cup --first time since he was playing for them, and Napoli are on their way to the scudetto--will be their first title since he was playing for them.

Juventus turned into a complete laughing stock this season, but managed to get themselves back into 3rd place before the break. Hopefully Chiesa, Pogba, and Di Maria can all play together this second half of the season.
Furthermore, their president and entire board resigned during the world cup break due to financial irregularities. It remains unclear what kind of penalties the club may be receive.

And what about José and the English lads at Roma?

HIF wrote:And what about José and the English lads at Roma?

The Conference League champions are a good team but suffering from injuries and lack of depth.
They looked to be a real threat at the start, bringing in Wijnaldum, Matic, and Dybala, but Wijnaldum fractured his tibia after just a couple of games and has been out since. Dybala, Matic, Spinazzola, Zaniolo and to a lesser extent Pellegrini, have all been struggling with fitness this season.
Smalling has been one of the best defenders in the league. Even scored some clutch headers. Abraham, after a superb first season, has lacked consistency this year, with a few head scratching misses and goal droughts.
I predict a fifth place finish from them, but at full strength they can beat anybody

magik9113 wrote:S
Furthermore, their president and entire board resigned during the world cup break due to financial irregularities. It remains unclear what kind of penalties the club may be receive.

But same ownership so presumably they have the most money to bounce back next year?


In contrast to Roma, which sold talent like Salah, Alisson, Rudiger, etc.

And wouldn't keep Spalletti, who took them to second place that one season.

Notable happenings from the first two matchdays after the WC break:

Inter gave Napoli their first L of the season, only to draw with Monza the very next match.
Napoli meanwhile rebounded to beat Samp 2-0.

Juve with two Allegri style 1-0 wins, extending their Serie A win streak and shutout streak to 8 in a row.

Mourinho's Roma beat Bologna before drawing Milan 2-2.

Umtiti's Lecce come back from behind to beat Lazio and their racist fans.

Mexico legend Guillermo Ochoa is off to an impressive start with Salernitana.

Top of the table standings:
Napoli 44
Juve 37
Milan 37
Inter 34
Lazio 31
Roma 31

Juve @ Napoli this weekend.

I watched the Milan vs. Roma game, as I'm trying to get a feel for Milan before the CL tie against Spurs.

Incredible that they managed to drop two points. Roma's first goal back was a nice header from Ibanez off a corner, but they fell asleep again on a set piece minutes later as a wide free kick found a player's head again, although this time the keeper parried it to Abraham who finished it.

Baphomet wrote:I watched the Milan vs. Roma game, as I'm trying to get a feel for Milan before the CL tie against Spurs.

Incredible that they managed to drop two points. Roma's first goal back was a nice header from Ibanez off a corner, but they fell asleep again on a set piece minutes later as a wide free kick found a player's head again, although this time the keeper parried it to Abraham who finished it.

It was a pretty shocking choke job. I was thrilled

Juve @ Napoli today.

Milik will be looking to score one on his old squad...Napoli froze him out of the team after he attempted to get transferred to Juve a couple years ago. They ended up selling him to Marseille after that and eventually he finally found his way to Juventus at the start of this season. He has exceeded my expectations thus far.

I expect a draw, which obviously favors Napoli, but also will keep Juve and Milan in the race.

magik9113 wrote:Juve @ Napoli today.

Milik will be looking to score one on his old squad...Napoli froze him out of the team after he attempted to get transferred to Juve a couple years ago. They ended up selling him to Marseille after that and eventually he finally found his way to Juventus at the start of this season. He has exceeded my expectations thus far.

I expect a draw, which obviously favors Napoli, but also will keep Juve and Milan in the race.

Osimhen and Kvaratskhelia, what a duo. Napoli tore Juve apart.

magik9113 wrote:Juve @ Napoli today.

Milik will be looking to score one on his old squad...Napoli froze him out of the team after he attempted to get transferred to Juve a couple years ago. They ended up selling him to Marseille after that and eventually he finally found his way to Juventus at the start of this season. He has exceeded my expectations thus far.

I expect a draw, which obviously favors Napoli, but also will keep Juve and Milan in the race.

Well, that didn't go according to plan.

MetalFingaz wrote:

magik9113 wrote:Juve @ Napoli today.

Milik will be looking to score one on his old squad...Napoli froze him out of the team after he attempted to get transferred to Juve a couple years ago. They ended up selling him to Marseille after that and eventually he finally found his way to Juventus at the start of this season. He has exceeded my expectations thus far.

I expect a draw, which obviously favors Napoli, but also will keep Juve and Milan in the race.

Osimhen and Kvaratskhelia, what a duo. Napoli tore Juve apart.

Indeed. They showed why they’re in a league of their own this season.
Terrible defending through out from Juve… Bremer had the worst game of his life trying to keep up with Osimhen.
Allegri continues to think Chiesa is a wing back. After 8 wins in a row, #allegriout trends again

Have you been able to watch much of Udinese, Magiko?

Curious to know what you think of Destiny Udogie, the Spurs loanee.

Baphomet wrote:Have you been able to watch much of Udinese, Magiko?

Curious to know what you think of Destiny Udogie, the Spurs loanee.

One of the best young talents in Italy. He can do it all and will surely thrive under Conte if he remains coach.

Juventus docked 15 points.

The FIGC court has handed Juventus a 15-point deduction as a result of the capital gains case, a ruling that has shaken the world of Italian football.

Prosecutor Giuseppe Chine asked for proceedings to be reopened against the Bianconeri following new information from the Prisma investigation, the Turin Public Prosecutor’s investigation into the club’s alleged usage of inflated player transfer values and secret wage payments in the early stages of the COVID pandemic.

https://football-italia.net/juventus-deducted-15-points-what-we-know-so-far-and-live-updates/

A good article on how this may be just the ‘tip of the iceberg’:
https://football-italia.net/juventus-points-penalty-is-just-the-tip-of-the-iceberg/

Another Super League push incoming.

the two Nigerians--Napoli's Osimhen and Atalanta's Lookman--are on fire this Serie A season.
Osimhen leads the league with 13 goals (zero PKs) and Lookman is in 2nd with 11 goals (3 PKs).

magik9113 wrote:the two Nigerians--Napoli's Osimhen and Atalanta's Lookman--are on fire this Serie A season.
Osimhen leads the league with 13 goals (zero PKs) and Lookman is in 2nd with 11 goals (3 PKs).

So happy for Lookman. I've always believed in him as a talent, makes sense that a very hard worker like him would succeed under Gasperini.

Lazio 4 -0 Milan

Lazio are a strange team as they lack consistency. They can lose to Lecce and Salernitana and then destroy Milan 4-0. Impressive performance from them yesterday.

Milan had just lost 3-0 to Inter in the supercoppa.
Hard to figure out what their issue is…most people point to the lack of action on the transfer market, but you’d expect the defending league champions to to challenge Napoli more than they have.
Tatarusanu is an awful backup gk, Maignan can’t return soon enough. Ibrah may return in a month or two. Theo is now injured and unfortunately Serginho Dest is not a starter for a top club.

Updated standings:
Napoli — 50
Milan — 38
Lazio — 37
Inter — 37
Roma — 37
Atalanta — 35
Udinese — 28
Torino — 26
Empoli — 25
Juventus — 23 (-15)
Fiorentina — 23
Bologna — 23

Italians don't fck around. The third severed animal head in 20-some years sent by disgruntled fans to club leadership.

Serie A's beleagured Sampdoria receive pig's head in post

https://www.espn.com/soccer/sampdoria/story/4886533/serie-as-beleagured-sampdoria-receive-pigs-head-in-post