Serie A Fantasy Picks – Round 23

Salvatore Sirigu: he has been one of the few Torino players to save face even in their recent disastrous stretch and the coaching change should lift the whole organization. They will host Sampdoria in this round, which are one of the least prolific teams on the road and might be without their catalyst Fabio Quagliarella.

Francesco Acerbi: Lazio have the second-best statistical defence in the League, despite making it a habit of giving up cheap consolation goals. Acerbi is their centre-pieces, but, depending on the projected lineup, also Patric and Luiz Felipe are worth a look versus Parma, which will not have two or three of their top forwards.   Continue reading

Serie A Fantasy Picks – Round 17

A reduced pool this week with Juventus-Sampdoria taking place on Wednesday and Lazio and Verona not playing due to Sunday’s Supercoppa Italiana.

Salvatore Sirigu: SPAL broke out of their road drought and have found the target in the past three matches, but they remain one of the most anaemic offenses in Europe, with only Watford having scored less than them in the top five leagues. The veteran goalie has been as reliable as they come despite being behind an imperfect back-line.

Stefan De Vrij: Inter have re-started keeping clean sheets, two in the past four games, and the Dutch defender offers the most upside on the other end. Genoa have failed to hit the net in three of their past five matches. Continue reading

Serie A Match of the Round – Verona vs Torino

Verona’s brilliant three-goal comeback earned them and Torino of the honours of being picked as best match in round 16.

The Scaligeri had lost three of the previous four matches against Inter, Roma and Atalanta, while the Granata were in a groove as they had prevailed in two in a row, over Genoa and Fiorentina.

Milan Juric welcomed back Marash Kumbulla to the XI after a thigh injury and picked Matteo Pessina and Mattia Zaccagni over Valerio Verre as attacking midfielders. Continue reading

Serie A Fantasy Picks – Round 15

Salvatore Sirigu: Torino are not close to last year’s defensive levels, but perhaps the gritty win over Genoa will get them going. More importantly, they are slated to face a Fiorentina team that could be very depleted up front.

Timothy Castagne: he is coming off an assist and could stay in the lineup due to other players’ injuries. In any case, while Castagne is the most appealing, all Atalanta defenders and Pierluigi Gollini are good picks this week because they are finally tightening up in the back with three clean sheets in their past four games, including Champions League.   Continue reading

Serie A Team of the Round – Torino

Cagliari fumbled away a glorious fantasy haul by giving away not one but two late cheap goals against Fiorentina. Therefore, the team that earned the best result in this round was Torino, which crushed Brescia on the road in the first game with Eugenio Corini at the helm. The Granata had not won in six rounds coming into the contest, but had fared decently in last week’s Derby with Juventus.

Walter Mazzarri picked Bremer over the other options in the back, selected Ola Aina as right wing-back, fielded both Sasa Lukic and Soualiho Meite with Daniele Baselli out of commission and trotted out Simone Verdi next to Andrea Belotti, as Simone Zaza and Iago Falque are both on the mend. Continue reading

Serie A Fantasy Picks – Round Three

Salvatore Sirigu: Lecce have yet to score in this campaign and therefore Torino are in prime position to keep the clean sheet that has eluded them thus far, primarily due to the good level of the opponent they have faced thus far.

Francesco Acerbi: Lazio have conceded just one goal so far and SPAL are certainly not the most explosive side, so their defensive leader might be able to pick up some points during the weekend. Continue reading

Serie A Fantasy Picks – Round 38

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Salvatore Sirigu: Torino have kept the second highest numbers of clean sheets in Serie A thus far, trailing only to Inter in that category, and will look to finish well the season against Lazio even though there is not much on the line.

Aleksandar Kolarov: he has accounted for eight goals, by far the best clip by any defender, and will try to further pad his stats against Parma as Roma need to be victorious to have a minimal chance to grab the fourth spot, but will also try to overtake Milan to avoid the Europa League playoffs. Continue reading

Serie A Match of the Round – Torino vs Sassuolo

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There is a lot of filler in these last few rounds as some teams have no real objective in sight, but when one of those put up a fight against a foe actually fighting for something, it can turn out to be a thrilling match-up, like it was the case for Torino-Sassuolo.

The Granata are in the hunt for the sixth place and were coming off a draw in the Derby della Mole, while they had taken home the full loot in the previous two contests against Genoa and Milan. The Neroverdi had stayed undefeated for six rounds, prevailing twice, and are right in the middle of the standings. Continue reading

Serie A Team of the Week – Round 34

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Salvatore Sirigu (7 points): in another round that was lacking in terms of clean sheets, only three, the tentacular Torino goalie once again separate himself from the pack, mainly for a great save on a Tiemoue Bakayoko deep into the Milan game.

Federico Fazio (9 points): he paved the way for Roma’s easy win against Cagliari by leaping into the air to precisely send the ball towards the far post and outside of Alessio Cragno’s reach. He has impressively already scored five times this year.

Aleksandar Kolarov (9 points): after multiple attempts, he was the one to finally bag Roma’s third goal on Saturday, with a persistent foray that he started and finished tracking down the second ball after a teammate was denied. Continue reading