Serie A didn't quite spring into life as expected on the Saturday just gone when Lazio traveled to the Juventus stadium.
The visitors held on for a 0-0 draw with many thanks going to goalkeeper Federico Marchetti, who pulled off two saves straight from the top drawer. Juventus came closest to finding the net, but Giovinco's corner fell to possibly the wrong man in Leonardo Bonucci who rattled the bar from inside the six-yard box.
Also on Saturday Napoli and AC Milan battled it out, this time Serie A living-up to the pre-match hype. Napoli took the lead inside four minutes when a long-range drilled Inler effort completely fooled Christian Abbiati in the Milan goal. On second viewing the swerve of the ball totally deceived the Milan captain although it was a soft goal to concede. After Lorenzo Insigne put the hosts 2-0 up on the half hour mark, Abbiati at fault again as the ball squeezed through his legs, Stephan El Shaarawy scored a truly stunning goal to give the Rossoneri hope. And wouldn't you know it, it was 'The Pharaoh' who saved Milan yet again with 10 minutes to go; El Shaarawy has now scored half of Milan's goals this season, putting him top of the scorers' chart with 10.
After the game Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani called captain and 300-capped player Christian Abbiati, "a sh*t goalkeeper." Abbiati has recently brushed-off the criticism saying "Mr Galliani has always been very frank"; would never have thought it.
To Sunday and Inter Milan had the opportunity to close the gap on leaders Juventus to just two points at home to Cagliari. In fact the Nerazzuri needed a late own-goal from Davide Astori to match Juve's draw the day before. Astori wasn't finished there though, as in injury-time he tripped Andrea Ranocchia just inside the box, and I really do mean just inside the box, yet nothing was given. Mayhem ensued as Inter coach Stramaccioni was sent-off for his reaction and Antonio Cassano gave the ref an ear-full in the tunnel; both have received bans as a consequence. If that wasn't enough action for you, despite a media silence from Inter, club president Massimo Moratti slated the standards of refereeing this season saying that the men in the middle are "incapable of doing their jobs."
In a bad-tempered affair at Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, 10-man Bologna comfortably beat 8-man Palermo 3-0. Alberto Gilardino put the hosts ahead with a thunderous strike before Manolo Gabbiadini scored from the spot. In the second-half madness broke loose. First Palermo goalkeeper Samir Ujkani was given his marching orders and Alessandro Diamanti blasted in the resulting penalty. Then Palermo captain Edgar Barreto was given a second yellow for a blatant kick before fellow team-mate Carlos Labrin was sent-off for a disgusting high challenge. In-between those dismissals, Bologna decided to join in on the madness as Saphir Taider was shown red.
In the Derby della Lanterna, named after a local lighthouse, Sampdoria's youthful line-up took the plaudits against fellow strugglers Genoa. A mid-week meeting between Sampdoria's Ultras and coach Ciro Ferrara, as well as club captain Daniele Gastaldello , seemingly worked as the promised greater effort from the team and continued support came together in this 3-1 derby victory. Goals from Poli, a laughable own-goal from Bovo and late strike from Icardi were enough to fire Sampdoria into 14th and leave Genoa bottom of Serie A.
We end this week's round-up with the fifth managerial dismissal of the season. Pescara coach Giovanni Stroppa has resigned after 13 games in charge, his last being a 1-0 defeat away at Siena on Sunday. Stroppa was battling against the tide from the start, as he was given the task of continuing the club's successful reign under Zdenek Zeman, now at Roma, as well as dealing with the loss of last-season's top-scorers Lorenzo Insigne and Ciro Immobile, not to mention the sale of Marco 'the new Pirlo' Verratti to PSG.
Former Pescara player Cristiano Bergodi has been appointed as Stroppa's replacement.
Juventus 0-0 Lazio; Napoli 2-2 AC Milan; Sampdoria 3-1 Genoa; Bologna 3-0 Palermo; Catania 2-1 Chievo; Fiorentina 4-1 Atalanta; Inter 2-2 Cagliari; Siena 1-0 Pescara; Udinese 2-2 Parma