Round 21 – Denis, big miss
By David, BettingExpert.com | Published
Snow is falling on most of Italy and this has lead to four matches from ten being suspended at the time of writing. The white flakes made sure the eternal question still begging to be answered resurfaced on the white mantle as fans had to modify their midweek Serie A plans. When will Italy update its stadia to more modern ones capable of surviving snowfall? Most of the games that were to be played from the central part to the south of the peninsula are supposed to go ahead as planned though so Milan will get their chance to overtake Juventus in the table and put pressure on Conte’s team fro the upcoming games. That is before the next weekend when worse weather is expected and with Milan having already asked for their game with Napoli to be postponed.
Atalanta – Genoa
Well Colantuono’s boys took advantage of a team in deeper troubles than themselves over the weekend and took all three points from Cesena. They did play better but the opponents ha d a good number of players distracted by transfer rumours and did not perform well as the clock ran down.
Apart from the team top scorer, Denis, Colantuono has a number of other personnel problems to deal with. Bellini and Capelli are two defenders till ruled out. Padoin has been sold to Juventus and with Moralez dipping in form the manager will look to shuffle his pack.
Whilst Atalanta have been going through their worst patch this season after an excellent start that so far has seen them beaten just twice in ten home games – by the two league leaders – Genoa have finally kick started their season. With the arrival of Marino there are already two wins registered, both with a 3-2 scoreline which betrays a defensive weakness but proves that the acquisition of strikers Gilardino and Sculli have been wise choices.
Kaladze returns from injury this time so there are hopes the defensive amnesias will be warded off this time. Rossi, Veloso, Bovo and Antonelli are still ruled out but club president Preziosi has been making big plans and Marino therefore has plenty to choose from to field a strong side.
Verdict: 2
Genoa’s away form and Atalanta’s home form justify odds of almost 3.50 on the guests but Colantuono’s resources are stretched as he walks into this match and without Denis the difference for Atalanta will be huge.
Inter – Palermo
There were rumours of a clash between Sneijder and what Ranieri is asking of him. Whilst Mourinho used to provide all the liberty for the Dutchman to hover behind the strikers and create chances for the team Ranieri is proving more rigid in his demands.
Having been sidelined with injury for a number of months he missed out on the change in the club leadership. When Ranieri took over he unsurprisingly moved onto adopting a solid 4-4-2 which depends on muscle and the opportunism of the strikers upfront.
The rest of the team, and therefore also Sneijder are asked to sweat and run around after the opponents and then throw the ball into the box for the likes of Pazzini and Milito to find the net. Sneijder has clashed with this system and it may be the reason why he pushes for a transfer next summer. For now I believe Ranieri will have to start using Sneijder along one of the strikers and not behind the two. That way he should get the balance he insists so much upon.
Palermo’s Mutti is far behind in getting the recipe right for the Rosanero’s travels. They are still without a win on the road this season but their home form has, as usual, some to their rescue, with both the last two games giving them six points in total.
Mutti’s next experiment might be putting aside his playmaker Ilicic for Bertolo. A move which had angered the volcanic club boss Zamparini and who will therefore not think twice before attacking his manager should things go wrong against Inter.
Verdict: Inter -1
Odds are still quite good, at 1.70 or thereabouts, for a team which does dispose of Palermo quite easily at the San Siro usually. The Rosanero travel very poorly and although last Sunday Lecce managed to get their first home win against Inter I find it hard to believe the Nerazzurri can be gifting a first to Palermo on away turf right now.
Lazio – Milan
The atmosphere around the club is not the best at the moment. Many fans are angry at how they had been promised the likes of Honda and Nilmar but in the end had to satisfy their ambition with Candreva. A player who is also a self-declared Roma supporter.
That was a bullet in the foot for president Lotito who had seemed to having successfully brought to a standstill the continuous fan protests against him and manager Reja. In these conditions players should easily get distracted, hampering any plans of finally getting that elusive victory over Milan.
Last week the Rossoneri hosted the Biancocelesti for a Coppa Italia game and the home side won 3-1, recovering from Cisse’s goal. The French striker was sold to QPR and now Lazio do have less options in attack, despite the striker not having impressed during his stay in Rome. However, not all is doom and gloom for Reja who has held Allegri’s Milan three times already in the past three league meetings.
There are therefore hopes for the Rossoneri dropping points although it has rarely been a Lazio win in the past seasons. Milan seem to be winning games very easily with Zlatan back in fine form and finding the right strike or pass to keep the Rossoneri chasing the Old Lady.
Missing players for tonight still number Boateng, Aquilani, Merkel, Gattuso, Flamini, Pato and Cassano on a list still not long enough for them to be weak enough for this trip.
There are doubts as to whether Klose will be fielded by Reja for this match.
Verdict: Milan 0:0
This is a tricky one but Milan seem very solid at the moment. They should be favourites against a Lazio side disappointed for not having been bolstered further to follow up on their ambition to steal a Champions League place. Reja has always troubled Allegri since he signed for Milan though so the risk of this ending in a sharing of the spoils is quite high. We’ll have to place our faith in Ibra Cadabra’s magic …once again.
01.02.2012, 18:45 CET
Weekend games are at risk too. Milan and Napoli have asked for their weekend clash to be postponed too. They await the verdict by the Italian football association.
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01.02.2012, 18:44 CET
Atalanta vs Genoa has now officially been suspended.
Bologna vs Fiorentina, Siena vs Catania have also been suspended earlier today.
Parma vs Juventus has been postponed yesterday.