A Season of Change
Serie A may have started losing its marketing pull as far back as Calciopoli in 2006, but its promo for this season was surprisingly on point. This is the most unpredictable calcio season in a long time, not least due to the lack of an absolute title favorite.
Usually, the previous season’s champions are branded as favorites. But then again, usually the champions are not a team outside of Juve, Inter, and Milan. Each one of the top seven placed clubs last May has undergone an overhaul of their own, therefore making it nearly impossible to pinpoint a clear favorite. Exciting indeed.
Napoli, the title holders, opened up the season with an uneasy victory away to newly promoted Frosinone. After losing the maestro of their scudetto winning orchestra, Luciano Spalletti, firstly to a sabbatical and then to the Italian national team, Napoli entered the season with more question marks than they would have liked. The departure of Kim Min-jae, absence of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Frank Anguissa — at least from the starting line up — were clearly felt and Napoli’s football suffered. They ended up winning 3-1 after going behind, but the football wasn’t as free flowing as last season, which is only to be expected with so many changes to the starting eleven.
The most notable change in direction from the Spalletti era seemed in possession; out with the ball circulation and in with more verticality. It remained business as usual, however, for scudetto bomber Victor Osimhen who started his season with a brace. The fact that Napoli have managed to keep hold of both him and Kvaratskhelia may be an even bigger victory than their one to start the title defense campaign.
Inter, last season’s Champions League finalists, are another team that lost an important part of their core over the summer. André Onana was sold to Manchester United and replaced with the solid Yann Sommer, but given Onana’s profile — age, character, and ball playing ability — that could hardly be considered an upgrade. Marcelo Brozović, Edin Džeko, and Romelu Lukaku, all key players and dressing room leaders, also departed. Their replacements Davide Frattesi, Marcus Thuram, and Marko Arnautović all donned the Nerazzurri kit for the first time against Monza — in Arnautović’s case it was a second debut — and the latter two especially, already gave us a glimpse of what they have to offer.
But Inter’s stars against Monza remained the usual suspects. New captain Lautaro Martinez scored a doppietta, flying wing backs Denzel Dumfries and Federico Dimarco bombarded the flanks, and Nicolò Barrella was everywhere. Many actually consider Inter the best equipped team to win lo scudetto, and Simone Inzaghi will be keen to get over his ‘cup coach’ tag and land Inter their second star.
Genoa’s return to the big time was commemorated by a beautiful tifo, but the night was somewhat ruined by last season’s Conference League finalists, Fiorentina. The Tuscans managed to bag four goals in an attacking display that was trademark Vincenzo Italiano.
Next up were Roma. Not only were they missing their Mister, José Mourinho, but also their captain Lorenzo Pellegrini, and their crown jewel Paulo Dybala, all due to suspension. Tammy Abraham, out with a long term injury, was replaced by Il Gallo Bellotti, who had managed to go the entirety of last season without scoring a single goal in Serie A. He scored twice. But in between his two goals, evergreen Antonio Candreva scored two screamers of his own. The second, especially, was an absolute beauty. The 36 year old rolled back the years to around ten years ago, when scoring bangers at the Olimpico was a habit of his, in Lazio’s sky blue.
Roma’s reshuffled midfield included new signing Houssem Aouar as a starter and Renato Sanches and the returnee Leandro Paredes off the bench. They came back from behind to draw, and could have even won had a Stefan El Shaarawy shot hit the back of the net instead of the post. Roma’s comeback wasn’t complete, but they will perhaps seek consolation from the comeback completed at the expense of their city neighbors and arch rivals, Lazio, by newly promoted Lecce, where two late goals were enough to cancel out Ciro Immobile’s opener and hand last season’s runner up their first defeat.
Juve, meanwhile, started their season flying. It took Federico Chiesa just two minutes to score their opener, after Juve’s collective high press forced an Udinese miss-pass. That aggressive press lasted for the first 20 or so minutes, a little bit after Dušan Vlahović had converted the Bianconeri’s second from the penalty spot. After that, they understandably dropped a little bit deeper — this is Max Allegri, after all — and were happy to invite Udinese and hit them on transitions. They ended the first half up 3-0, but Allegri may have been disappointed with Timothy Weah’s performance at right wing back and Fabio Miretti in midfield, as both were subbed off at half time.
Juve had to work though for their clean sheet and Wojciech Szczęsny was especially impressive on a couple of saves. Juve’s overall performance was a stark contrast to what we had grown used to from Allegri’s men in the past couple of seasons. They looked sharp, dynamic, ready to run like crazy, aggressive, and very direct. In short, they had lo stile Juve — Juve’s style. Chiesa, Vlahović, Adrien Rabiot, Manuel Locatelli, and especially Andrea Cambiaso all looked good, which is a real cause for optimism. Paul Pogba nearing full fitness could be the cherry on top. In a season without European commitments, Juventini would be forgiven if they have already started dreaming.
But the most changed team of them all remains Milan. After making Sandro Tonali the most expensive Italian of all time, it wouldn’t be unrealistic to expect between five to seven new faces — including off the bench — when Milan visit Bologna on Monday night. They are the most unknown quantity, with a nearly completely new midfield and frontline, and their transfer activity yet to be completely finished. Milan’s directors have been pretty busy all summer, working hard to provide Stefano Pioli with the player profiles he seeked — namely young dynamic players who are equally adept at pressing without the ball, and dribbling at speed with it.
One name who won’t feature, though, is Charles De Ketelaere. Unable to score even once in Milan’s rossonero colors, he had no trouble finding the net in his first match with Atalanta’s kit instead. Playing under the offensive minded Gian Piero Gasperini may be his last chance saloon in calcio, and he seems to have started it on the right foot.
All in all, if the first giornata has demonstrated anything so far, it’s that this may indeed be the season of change in calcio. So fasten your seatbelts, as it promises to be a wild ride.