Serie A Fantasy Preview – Round 21 – Early Games

FIORENTINA-INTER

Fiorentina: the news for them is that somebody not named Dusan Vlahovic managed to hit the net, as Franck Ribery bagged his first goal of the season with a pretty play against Torino. The Frenchman had indeed started to show better recently: he also has four assists in the season, but he has had an hiccup in practice, which could allow Jose Callejon or Christian Kouame to get the nod in this one. Giacomo Bonaventura has been their only other scorer in recent games and he showed up versus Torino with an assist, thus picking up bonuses in two matches in a row. His role will be bigger due to the suspension of Gaetano Castrovilli. Erick Pulgar, who is first in line to replace the teammate, has some value due to PK duties, but he has not done much this year, while Sofyan Amrabat could move to a more dynamic position. Cristiano Biraghi is a secondary option as he has tallied one goal and four assists thus far. Their defense has been quite stingy but the match-up is complicated. Continue reading

Can Gennaro Gattuso turn it around at Napoli?

Gennaro Gattuso has been thrust into the hot-seat at Napoli in recent weeks, with reports suggesting his future is in doubt in southern Italy. While Aurelio De Laurentiis publicly denied all rumors and backed Gattuso, the former Milan tactician is still under pressure. Napoli slumped to back-to-back defeats against Juventus and Hellas Verona, adding further fuel to reports about Gattuso’s sacking.

Massimiliano Allegri and Rafa Benitez have since been touted as potential replacements but as De Laurentiis has highlighted, Gattuso will be given a shot to turn it around. The World Cup winner demonstrated his ability to rescue a sinking ship last season after inheriting a struggling Napoli side from Carlo Ancelotti. Gattuso instantly offered the Partenopei stability and led them to a Coppa Italia triumph.

While this season’s struggles are worrying, Napoli’s upcoming run of games will, in many ways, define Gattuso’s future. The Partenopei have since bounced back with consecutive wins against Spezia and Parma and will now shift their attention to Atalanta in the Coppa Italia semifinals. A game against Genoa is sandwiched between their intriguing two-legged tie with Gasperini’s side, offering them a chance to build momentum.

Napoli will then take on Juventus on February 13 before taking on Granada in the Europa League Round of 32. Gattuso’s side also takes on Atalanta, once more, but this time in league action. Make no mistake about it – February is the most important month in Gattuso’s tenure.

Should the former Milan boss steer them into the next round of the Coppa Italia and the Europa League, he will earn himself some temporary respite in the Napoli hot-seat. Clashes against Juventus and Atalanta will not be easy, but Napoli possesses the firepower and talent to get the job done.

Hirving Lozano is firing from all cylinders in his second season, while Victor Osimhen is expected to make his return to action this month. The Nigerian international has battled injuries all season and will be eager to put them behind him ahead of an important stretch. Andrea Petagna has deputized for the former Lille man in his absence and has largely done a good job. However, as the important games pile up, Gattuso will want his record signing at his disposal.

Gattuso has earned himself the opportunity to lead Napoli out of this tough time and oversee the Partenopei into a difficult month of February. While Gattuso is in De Laurentiis’ good graces for the time being, he cannot afford to get too comfortable. Elimination from the Europa League and Coppa Italia could just seal his fate come summertime. Gattuso will take solace in the fact that his side remains in contention on all three fronts and are right in the mix for top four ahead of the second half of the season.

Gattuso has demonstrated he is capable of turning it around before and will need much of the same heading into February. As reports surrounding his potential replacement intensify, the pressure is on Gattuso.  Whether he can deliver the goods again remains to be seen – but as February rolls around – De Laurentiis will soon find out.

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Serie A Fantasy Preview – Round 19 – Top Matches

MILAN-ATALANTA

Milan: the Rossoneri keep navigating their several absences in brilliant fashion and Zlatan Ibrahimovic returned to the XI with a bang in Cagliari, putting together a brace and moving to 12 goals in the season in just eight appearances. The COVID outbreak is getting resolved as Rade Krunic and Ante Rebic tested negative, but their conditioning will have to be assessed in practice and Theo Hernandez was a false positive, so only Hakan Calhanoglu is out, which is a major loss, but at least they are in a better spot numerically and they recovered their stud fullback. Rafael Leao (three goals, one assist in the last five games) will be back from suspension and will likely supplant Jens Petter Hauge that has been pretty quiet despite seeing good minutes. Franck Kessie let Zlatan take the PK in the past game but he will probably re-gain those duties in this one: he has notched six goals and two assists in the season. Davide Calabria is trending up as he provided a great helper in the past game and also hit the net recently.

Continue reading

Serie A Fantasy Preview – Round 18 – Top Matches

LAZIO-ROMA

Lazio: Ciro Immobile took a little back-seat in the Parma game, where two other fellow attackers shined, Luis Alberto, who broke the deadlock with his third goal in the last five matches, and Felipe Caicedo, who found the target for the second round in a row, moving to six total in the season. The Golden Boot recipient had scored in all the previous five tilts. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic dished his fifth assist to add to his two goals, as his role is slightly different this year, but he has maintained a decent level of production. Manuel Lazzari cashed in on his good moment with his second assist of the season, catching up with fellow wing-back Adam Marusic in that regard. Joaquin Correa (one goal, one assist) could be back at least in limited fashion in this one, but Caicedo has filled in admirably. The Sergeant tends to deliver in big matches.

Recommended picks: Milinkovic-Savic, Immobile, Alberto.  Continue reading

Serie A Fantasy Preview – Round 16 – Top Matches

CROTONE-ROMA

Crotone: they tried to keep up with Inter on Sunday thanks to the first goals in Serie A of Niccolò Zanellato and Vladimir Golemic, but they ultimately ended up being overwhelmed. Junior Messias showed up with an assist, his first one, while he has found the target five times. Emmanuel Riviere is taking playing time away from Simy, but neither has been very prolific or really dangerous. Given the role, it is unlikely that Zanellato will turn into a fantasy weapon: in the midfield Salvatore Molina (one goal, four assists) and Milos Vulic surely have more value, while left-back Arkadiusz Reca (one goal and five helpers) has been a valuable reference point on the flank. Continue reading

Serie A Fantasy Preview – Round 15 – Remaining Games

CAGLIARI-NAPOLI

Cagliari: Joao Pedro bagged a brace against Roma, but they still came away empty-handed and they have not triumphed in a while. Besides the Brazilian, who is at eight goals in the season, they have not gotten much out of their other strikers as Giovanni Simeone has not produced after missing time with COVID and Leonardo Pavoletti had an immediate spark but then faded once his playing time resumed being irregular. Riccardo Sottil has found the target twice so far, but he has also been rather wasteful given the amount of opportunities he has had. Adam Ounas should be at full speed after the break and he is effervescent, but not very clutch in the box. Nahitan Nandez finished the year on a high performance-wise, but he might play in a defensive role in this one. Their fullbacks Charalampos Lykogiannis (two goals) and Gabriele Zappa (three assists) have been among their top contributors.

Recommended picks: Pedro, Sottil, Ounas. Continue reading

Romelu Lukaku can fire Inter to the Serie A title as club win 6th game in a row

One week and two wins have kept Inter in 2nd place in Serie A but the gap between them and their rivals Milan is now just 1 point. The good news is that the 3rd placed team Napoli are six points behind Inter and because the 9 time in a row champions Juventus lost at the weekend they are also trailing by six points.

It has been an incredible week for Inter who first had to face a top 4 rival in Napoli in midweek. It was always going to be a tricky game for Antonio Conte’s men and they were clearly the second best on the night. But in the end it didn’t matter, Inter came out 1-0 winners after a moment of madness from Napoli’s Lorenzo Insigne who gave away a penalty.

Romelu Lukaku kept his nerve to score his 10th goal of the season and the penalty would ultimately separate the teams. It was a huge win for the club.

Coach Conte was of course in full praise of his team. “A win like this one can do well, that’s what I told the boys.  It was not easy, Napoli are a great team It was a tactical match, with great respect on both sides. It was not a great game, but these are important points against an ambitious team like Napoli, always protagonist of our championship, these points are worth double.”

Inter followed up this win with another victory at the weekend as they beat Spezia 2-1. In fairness the first half was nothing to write home about as Spezia set up to defend and try to get a point at San Siro. It was no surprise that the first half ended 0-0. And Spezia had zero shots on goal and even Inter only had one.

The breakthrough finally came later in the second half when a terrific Lautaro Martinez pass found Achraf Hakimi on the right hand side who still had plenty to do but the in form player made no mistakes to put Inter 1-0 up.

A few minutes later it felt like game over when VAR had to intervene after an incident in the Spezia area which awarded a penalty to Inter. Lukaku who had scored against Napoli in the previous game from the spot came forward again and yet again made no mistakes to score his 11th goal of the season. Spezia did pull one back right at the death but the game was over and Inter saw it out.

In the fantasy points Romelu Lukaku leads with 46 points. The defender Achraf Hakimi who has scored 4 goals and been involved in seven altogether in a quite remarkable season so far has 29 points. In third place is Lautaro Martinez with 28.

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Serie A Fantasy Preview – Round 13 – Top Matches

PARMA-JUVENTUS

Parma: they were pretty underwhelming in the Cagliari game, where Gervinho (four goals, one assist) confirmed to be in a pretty good run of form, but the prolonged drought of both Andreas Cornelius and Roberto Inglese is starting to hurt. The midfielders have picked up some of the slack, Hernani and Jasmin Kurtic in the particular as they have hit the net respectively three and two times, but it is not a sustainable model. Neither Yann Karamoh nor Juan Brunetta have fully exploited the increased role the coach has given them, maybe they will go with a more conservative option in this one since Juraj Kucka is available and he played in an attacking position in the past. However, he has not been convincing from the fantasy standpoint so far this season. Continue reading

Serie A Injury and Suspension Report – Round 12

Atalanta: Aleksey Miranchuk has cleared the COVID protocol and has been called up. Mario Pasalic will undergo sport-hernia surgery and return in January. Matteo Ruggeri (fatigue) and Josip Ilicic (strep throat) are questionable.

Benevento: Nicolas Viola has returned after some physical problems, while Gabriele Moncini (ankle), Christian Maggio (calf) and Luca Caldirola (knee) remain sidelined. Continue reading

Serie A Fantasy Preview – Round 12 – Top Matches

JUVENTUS-ATALANTA

Juventus: Alvaro Morata was cleared from his suspension, but the coach still went with Paulo Dybala against Genoa and the La Joya finally scored his first goal in Serie A with a lovely play. The Spaniard continues to appear a better partner for Cristiano Ronaldo and will probably start in this one, but the coach used all three together for a bit and that may become a trend moving forward, although probably in easier tilts. Par for the course for Cristiano Ronaldo, who converted two PKs and reached the double-digit threshold. No bonuses this time, but Juan Cuadrado had another game-winning play: he has notched three assists so far, while Federico Chiesa (four helpers) was again pretty good, but he is not atop of their list of assets. After his recent success in the box, they used Weston McKennie in a more offensive role, with mixed returns. One between Aaron Ramsey and Dejan Kulusevki will likely make the XI in this one, but they have not performed consistently enough to be on the fantasy map. Continue reading