A busy week in the Italian League as the teams played twice in three days. There were some confirmations and some surprises atop of the goalkeepers’ chart. Alisson’s strong play continued and earned him 14 points, as he remains the best ranked player in his position. Roma had two one-nil victories in the last seven days, over Crotone and Bologna, which helped them keep up with the four top teams in Serie A.
Two more clean sheets for Alisson, who has already recorded seven of them in the early portion of the season. He was not facing the strongest opposition, especially because Bologna were without Rodrigo Palacio, but still had a couple of excellent saves. In the midweek game, the Giallorossi were missing their best two centre-backs, Kostas Manolas and Federico Fazio, but still managed to win through their usual formula.
Even though Eusebio Di Francesco was renowned for his offensive style at Sassuolo, Roma have had great defending this year, no matter who was playing in the backline. The fact that they dominate the time of possession obviously factors in. They have conceded only five goals so far, three less that the nearest opponents in this category, Napoli and Inter.
We find a three-way tie in second position, with seven points collected in week 10. Albano Bizzarri played in both games and was crucial for Udinese in the bout with Atalanta, as he denied Bryan Cristante on a late penalty. The Bianconeri were successful also against Sassuolo on Wednesday in a game that was decided by a single goal, by Antonin Barak. The prospect found the bottom on the net on Sunday as well and is quickly becoming one of the centerpieces of the team. The six points in three days provided a big lift for the struggling team led by Luigi Delneri.
Gianluigi Buffon and Pierluigi Gollini played only once last week, but had big performances. The legendary goalkeeper had an incredible save in Milan-Juventus, where he recklessly dove towards a wide-open Nikola Kalinic and deflected the ball on the post, preventing the Rossoneri from tying the game at the end of the first half. Gollini was among the main protagonists of three-nothing win Atalanta had on Wednesday over Hellas Verona, a tilt that was more balanced than what the final results indicates. The Nerazzurri pulled away late, but the Mastiffs had several chances in the first half, in particular with Moise Kean, but were unable to finalize because of the efforts of the young goalkeeper, who was making his second start of the season.
Join the best players at www.fantasyseriea.com
To leave a comment, you must be logged into www.eurofantasyleague.com