10 Things We Learned In Serie A This Weekend

Rolando Bianchi should’ve just stayed in Manchester.

At least until the weekend was over. In what has to go down as one of the worst debuts in recent history, Bianchi came on as a substitute in the 60th minute against Torino – the club which wanted him desperately before his move to the foothills of Rome – and by the 66th minute he’d seen his second yellow and a quick exit to the showers. The first yellow, a whole 12 seconds after he got on the field (that’s not an exaggeration, it was literally 12 seconds) was on a tackle late and from behind so straight red would’ve been totally justifiable. The second yellow came from throwing an elbow at Paolo Zanetti’s head. Mr. Bianchi was then cheered off the field by the Granata tifosi, who had booed his entrance because they desperately need somebody, anybody to score some goals for them. If you ever want to feel better about a crappy day, the full five minute video of his Lazyo “debut” is after the jump.

Cagliari owns Napoli.

In every sport, there are just some less talented teams that have the number of a team which, on paper, should beat them every time. (No, I can’t come up with anything off the top of my head other than MLB, NBA and NFL references.) It appears Cagliari, the little team from Sardinia that could, has one up on the new fellas from the coast. The Rossoblu have 3 wins this season, 2 have come from Napoli, and this weekend’s triple pointer was their first since September. Being made all the more spectacular because they tied and then won the game all after the 90th minute on a Daniele Conti header. Now if they could only play Napoli 18 more times they just might avoid the drop.

Giampaolo Pazzini may finally be fulfilling that potential.

3 games, 4 goals. This weekend’s against Empoli was a great run followed by the deft touch of a striker. The Azzurri could sure as hell use some up and coming strikers right now, he’d help. Speaking of…..

Antonio Cassano has to go to Swissaustria. Antonio Cassano cannot go to Swissaustria.

Every week, we’re seeing more and more of the true Talentino. Scored another superbly simple goal this weekend against Siena, which makes it 3 straight in Serie A games, not to mention some sensational play. Yet a whole two months ago he walked off the field without telling anyone, and then threw a tearful temper tantrum on the pitch just a month later. Lord knows what happened behind the scenes when he realized he’d miss his second trip back to Rome tomorrow due to back issues. As a talent, he should absolutely be in Swissaustria, but the Azzurri can’t afford to bring him. I think.

Sampdoria replaced their football players with thespians at some point in the second half.

There were seemingly 20-25 minutes of extra time at the end of the Samp – Siena game this weekend because every time a blue-ringed player came within a whiff of a tackle or the ball, they went down as though the second gunman from the grassy knoll was sitting in the upper deck, picking guys off. Some of the stuff was just shameful, too, namely Gennaro Delvecchio, who got hit in the chest with the ball and grabbed his knee as he went down, then realized the mistake and nursed his chest, as one of his fake injuries. Siena got a bit heated after the final whistle because while Samp players were hitting the ground, they were taking the game to them and looking primed for an equalizer. No one likes acting.

* – Same goes for David Pizarro, who blatantly dove in the area, then got mad and pushed Amauri out of the way when he didn’t get the call. Classless play, really. Especially from a guy who was having his best game of the season.

Goal poachers know how to score goals, even when they aren’t looking.

This week’s example: David Trezeguet.

Brazilian keepers are cursed (with poor decision making).

Genoa’s Rubinho had the latest faux pas this weekend against Milan. Dida wasn’t playing so obviously he had to fill in and do the weekly duties. He pulled nearly the exact move Julio Cesar pulled against Udinese in the first giornata and forgot that his magical goalkeeping powers stop once you leave the box, and palmed the ball about 10 yards out. That’s a red card. Genoa was down 1-0 at the time, so that didn’t help matters.

Must be the weather.

Of the 17 goals scored in Serie A this weekend, 15 were scored after the stroke of halftime, which is just a ridiculously fluky stat. And one of the two first half goals, Cassano’s, came in the 44th minute. Maybe each team should just play a scrimmage half before the actual game starts to get warm?

So this wasn’t exactly a prime week for the goal scorers of Serie A. 17 goals means teams averaged a whole 0.85 goals and allowed half the keepers starting in Serie A to register a clean sheet. Strange stat week.

Penalties might get a little tougher to come by.

After seeing 8 penalties last weekend, including The Penalty for Inter which prompted the omniscient Pierluigi Collina to admit it was the wrong call, and 7 the previous weekend, this weekend produced zero penalties. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that spot kicks are going to be a lot tougher to come by in Serie A in the near future. Bravo.

Some Related Stories:

Category: Europe, Serie A