Saponara to make his San Siro bow here replacing Muntari.
Gabrielâs mistake is pounced upon by Borja who stabs the ball into an empty net.
Allegri will be gone very shortly.
Galliani has seen enough.
I think this will be Niangâs 27th Serie A game without scoring.
Awful goalkeeping by Gabriel for the second goal. Milan have been dire.
Milanâs penny pinching has cost them, they needed a centre back or two this season and they would only coin out on an Inter reject on a loan deal, they needed 3 quality midfielders and they spent the money on two decent yet unproven players on co-ownership deals for modest fees. They then went and spent âŹ12m on a player they didnât need. They wouldnât bring in Honda for the sake of a couple of million, they wouldnât give Flamini the salaray required to keep him after a wonderful season - yet they have deadwood like Robinho, Nocerino, Emanuelson and Constant hanging around the club.
In saying that Allegri should be doing an awful lot better even considering the injuries he has had. I think he deserves to be sacked and will be out of a job in the coming weeks.
Impressive win for Inter today away in Udinese as they ran out comfortable 3-0 winners.
Very good article on Alessio Cerci here. I really hope Roma consider bringing him home in January.
[SIZE=6]Torino and Italy given reason to smile by second coming of Alessio Cerci[/SIZE]
The forward has knuckled down and rediscovered his promise at Torino â seen by his scoring display against boyhood club Roma
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Alessio Cerci celebrates scoring for Torino in their 1-1 draw with Serie A leaders Roma on Sunday. Photograph: Andrea Di Marco/EPA
These are lean times for Italian manufacturers. Since 2007, production has fallen by 26%, businesses have closed and jobs have moved abroad. Football, in its own way, has mimicked such patterns, with Italyâs domestic goal supply drying up at a concerning rate.
The situation was brought to light in last Fridayâs edition of Gazzetta dello Sport. A special investigation by the newspaper found that just 40.7% of goals in Serie A this season had been scored by Italian players. This was not an anomaly, but instead the latest manifestation of a trend; foreign players have been outscoring their domestic counterparts ever since 2010-11. Even before that, a steady decline in the Italiansâ share of the goals could be charted back to 2005-06.
Nor is the link to economic conditions as spurious as it might first appear. Playing opportunities for domestic footballers have fallen over the same period, with Italians accounting for fewer than half of all top-flight appearances in each season since 2011-12. Increasingly, teams are finding it cheaper to recruit players from abroad than to unearth them at home.
This is not an entirely new scenario, of course, and nor is it exclusive to Italy. But it is a growing source of concern on the peninsula. As Gazzettaâs Carlo Laudisa noted on Friday: âItâs a good thing that we at least have Giuseppe Rossi and Alessio Cerci at the top of the Serie A scoring charts, giving us a much-needed splash of âMade in Italyâ.â
It is not so long ago that many Italians would have preferred not to claim ownership of Cerci â a player whose public image left a lot to be desired. An undoubted talent who had grown up in the Roma[/URL] youth system and got his break under Fabio Capello in 2004, [URL=âhttp://blogs.thescore.com/counterattack/2013/03/20/bandini-hot-and-cold-alessio-cerci-gets-his-shot-with-prandellis-italyâ]he was dubbed âthe [Thierry] Henry of Valmontoneâ as a teenager, but by 2012 his career trajectory was beginning to look more like that of the Frenchmanâs former Arsenal team-mate Jermaine Pennant.
After failing to break into the Roma team, he was sold to Fiorentina in 2010 but never lived up to expectations. Deployed out wide by the clubâs then manager Sinisa Mihajlovic, Cerci could be devastating at times â using his pace and technique to blow past defenders as if they were never there â but on too many other occasions, he was anonymous.
How much of this was Cerciâs fault is open to debate given the whole team performed poorly in that period amid reports of considerable disharmony in the squad. But the playerâs ostentatious manner off the pitch made him an easy scapegoat. He became infamous for parking his Maserati illegally around Florence, and on one occasion he was even said to have left it in a police bay, reportedly telling an officer who challenged him that he would eat his dinner first before moving it.
There were other incidents, too, and most notably one occasion when Cerci missed training without permission after travelling to Spain to purchase a holiday home. Such behaviour might have been tolerated if he was at least living up to expectations on the pitch, but despite representing Italy at every age category from Under-16 up to Under-21, Cerci had not been called up to the senior national side.
The player duly moved to Torino in the summer of 2012, initially on co-ownership. He was reunited with Giampiero Ventura, the manager under whom he had enjoyed his best season â finding the net 10 times in 26 games while on loan at Pisa, in Serie B, back in 2007-08.
It could not have worked out any better. Restored to the same role he had played for Pisa â wide right in a 4-2-4 â Cerci scored eight goals and laid on even more for his team-mates during his first season in Turin. He won his first Italy cap in March, coming on as a substitute in a 2-2 draw with Brazil, and then played in his first World Cup qualifier, against Malta, just a few days later.
Somewhere along the line, he began to rehabilitate his image as well. Cerci acknowledged his regrets at having âthrown away so many yearsâ and credited Ventura for saving his career. The manager, with whom Cerci professes to enjoy a father-son relationship, had set him firm goals for the season â which included getting into the Italy team.
After Torino bought out the remaining part of the playerâs contract during this summer, he began his second season with even more confidence. Playing most often as a central striker, albeit with considerable freedom to roam, Cerci had scored seven goals in 10 games by the time Gazzetta published its investigation. That represented almost half of his teamâs entire offensive output, and he had chipped in a further three assists, too.
Now Cerci has his sights set firmly on a place in Italyâs World Cup squad. Before that, though, a more immediate challenge awaited. Torinoâs 11th game would be at home to the league leaders Roma, who had not dropped a point all season and happen to be Cerciâs boyhood team. He had sworn in the past never to celebrate any goal that he scored against the Giallorossi.
It turned out to be a promise he could not keep. Roma had scored first on Sunday, Kevin Strootman side-footing home from close range in the 28th minute, but thereafter Cerci waged a one-man war against the visitorsâ defence â the footballing equivalent of the soldier forgotten behind enemy lines in a 1980s war movie. No matter how many men he had to go through, Cerci would not surrender without reaching his goal.
He finally got there in the 63rd minute, prodding home Riccardo Meggioriniâs cross before hurdling the advertising hoardings as he rushed away to celebrate underneath the stands. He became just the second player to score past Morgan De Sanctis all season â ending the goalkeeperâs run of 744 minutes without conceding a goal.
Romaâs attempts to respond came up short, the game ending 1-1, bringing to a halt the clubâs record-breaking run of wins to start a Serie A season to 10. A victory, in truth, would have flattered the visitors, who managed only three shots on target all game. âThatâs football, you canât always win,â said the Roma manager, Rudi Garcia. âThe record was not an additional weight on us. Itâs not a big deal; getting a point away from home is never a negative result, especially if you got it in a difficult place and against a good Torino team with a great player: Cerci.â
The draw meant Roma finished the weekend just three points clear of their closest rivals, Juventus and Napoli, although they could draw additional encouragement from the knowledge that those teams go head-to-head in Turin next week. Roma, furthermore, will have the opportunity to rest this week, while both of those teams take part in the latest round of Champions League fixtures.
As for Torino, they sit joint-11th having drawn six of their 11 games. Ventura knows that they must become more ruthless, learning how to close out a game. But at least, it seems, he can rely on a steady supply of goals from Cerci. All of them âMade in Italyâ, of course.
[SIZE=5]Talking points[/SIZE]
⢠Another Italian forward enjoying a fine run of form of late is Veronaâs Luca Toni. He scored in both his teamâs wins over Sampdoria and Cagliari in the last week, prompting one or two pundits to ask whether â even at the age of 36 â he deserves consideration for Italyâs World Cup squad this summer. âIf [Cesare] Prandelli wants me then I will be very happy,â said Toni. âWe need to see who reaches June in good form. But, of course, if I was the manager then I would always call me up!â In the meantime, Verona continue their improbable start to the season, staying joint-fourth alongside Internazionale. They have now won all of their first six home games of the season, with Toni arguably the single greatest contributor to their cause. As well as scoring five goals, the striker has laid on four assists and won three penalties â all of them scored by Jorginho.
⢠Gazzetta called it a âBarbara-ic Invasionâ. Silvio Berlusconiâs daughter, Barbara, was said to be on the warpath following Milanâs 2-0 defeat to Fiorentina on Saturday, reportedly demanding a major shake-up of the clubâs leadership. She would later deny claims that she sought to have the clubâs vice-president, Adriano Galliani, fired. After 11 games, theRossoneri have collected just 12 points â leaving them 19 off first place and just three above the relegation zone â and Barbara is said to believe that a major change in philosophy is required when it comes to transfers, noting that other clubs are achieving greater success right now on smaller budgets. The clubâs fans showed their displeasure on Saturday with a banner reminding the clubâs leadership that they had called for a strengthening of the defence and midfield over the summer.
⢠Napoli extended what is now the clubâs best start to a Serie A season, with 28 points from 11 games. Even adjusting past seasons to three points for a win, they had never enjoyed a start this fast; in the best year of the Maradona era, 1987-88, they had eight wins and three draws at the corresponding stage. Rafael BenĂtez, as you would expect, has done it his way â using 22 players already as he pursues an aggressive rotation scheme to keep his side fresh for the Champions League.
⢠Domenico Berardi announced himself to the league on Sunday, the 19-year-old Sassuolo striker scoring a hat-trick in his teamâs wild 4-3 win at Sampdoria. The visitors trailed 1-0 at half-time but stormed into a 3-1 lead after the break, only to let Samp (down to 10 men after Andrea Costa was sent off) pull level with nine minutes remaining. And then, before the game had even got to injury time, Berardi struck again from the spot to give his team the win.
⢠Inter recorded a highly impressive 3-0 win away to Udinese on Sunday, and their 27 goals so far this season lead the division. But they certainly arenât relying on a domestic production line; Andrea Ranocchiaâs 29th minute strike to make it 2-0 was the first time that an Italian player had scored for them this season.
Results: Lazio 0-2 Genoa, Livorno 1-0 Atalanta, Milan 0-2 Fiorentina, Napoli 2-1 Catania, Parma 0-1 Juventus, Sampdoria 3-4 Sassuolo, Torino 1-1 Roma, Udinese 0-3 Inter, Verona 2-1 Cagliari
Agreed Rudi, a very fine article. Disappointed you didnt credit the writer however, the excellent Paolo Bandini, producer of tweets such as this fine one last week
@Paolo_Bandini
Donât forget that this was Zemanâs team last year. A team that conceded 56 goals in 38 games. This year, 1 in 10.
After Giandomenico Mestoâs season ending injury Napoli have signed former Lyon full back Anthony Reveillere on a free transfer.
Napoli will face Juve in Turin on Sunday evening.
Cracking game here between Juve and Napoli. Juve 1-0 up.
Super goal there from Pirlo. 2-0 Juve.
Pogba makes it 3-0. Another cracker.
Pogba with a cracker as well.
Napoli a bit unlucky. Buffon made two big saves at crucial moments. Insigne has been very good for Napoli.
Gigi Buffon is a gent.
Milan and Genoa are tied 1-1 at half time. Kaka opened the scoring but Balotelli missed a penalty after Gilardino had levelled from the spot.
Parma have won at the San Paolo. 
I see the Milan Ultras wouldnât let the players leave the stadium for ages after the final whistle last night. We should be able to annihilate them in Celtic Park this week.
Juventus won earlier.
[quote=âBandage, post: 864979, member: 9â]I see the Milan Ultras wouldnât let the players leave the stadium for ages after the final whistle last night. We should be able to annihilate them in Celtic Park this week.
Juventus won earlier.[/quote]
Milan will beat Celtic.
Looks like Galliani is on his way out. He said as much to the media yesterday and there has been talk of this for a while now due to a personality clash with Barbara Berlusconi. Paolo Maldini is the favourite to replace Galliani. It will definitely be strange not to see Galliani at the San Siro, he has picked up some bargains in the past couple of years but his frugality has also held Milan back as they have missed out on loads of talented players for nominal amounts of money in football terms.
I read an interesting stat about Domenico Berardi this week, he has more goals in Serie A at 19 than Del Piero, Totti, Gilardino, Vieri, Balotelli and Pato amongst others had at that age. He has also taken less games to reach that landmark than any of those mentioned:
Berardi (7 in 9)
Pato (7 in 13)
Del Piero (7 in 17)
Balotelli (7 in 23)
Vieri (7 in 26)
Gilardino (7 in 52)
Totti (7 in 62)