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Serie A Review: Three takeaways from the opening weekend

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The Serie A season kicked off over the weekend, with some of the biggest games held over to Monday night – meaning it’s taken us until now to digest everything that happened. But here’s our take on the major talking points from an intriguing set of results.

By Matteo Bonetti, US Serie A expert

Milan remain underrated

The bookmakers currently have Milan as a near 4/1 (+380) underdog to win the Scudetto. Compare that to Inter and Juventus, who are hovering around +170, or less than 2/1, and it’s easy to see why the reigning Scudetto champions may be getting unfairly overlooked.

Losing Franck Kessié to Barcelona was a blow, but adding Charles De Ketelaere more than makes up for it even if they play completely different positions. The Belgian wonderkid is a special talent. Elegant with the ball, versatile and gifted with the type of technique that gives him a limitless ceiling. He instantly fixes one of Milan’s two weaknesses from last season (right wing and attacking midfield), so it’s fair to say Milan as a whole have strengthened. Yacine Adli and Tommaso Pobega are two new arrivals that can also play in the midfield. With Kessié gone, more will be expected from Ismaël Bennacer as the partner alongside Sandro Tonali. While none of these players have the muscle and aggression of Kessié, they are mostly tidy, ball playing midfielders that should give Milan the type of control we saw last season in most games.

Last season’s number one defence is as strong as ever and is further reinforced by the return of Simon Kjær, who was injured for the majority of the previous campaign. Pierre Kalulu stepped up in the Dane’s absence and should only continue to get better with more playing time. The chemistry being built within the club is special. When I visited Milan last season to cover a game at San Siro, I had the chance to speak with a lot of people behind the scenes, who all raved about the superb atmosphere in the locker room. They also spoke about Zlatan Ibrahimović, who despite being injured, had become a sort of spiritual leader and assistant coach, mentoring the younger players and showing them the type of mentality needed to win at the highest level.

Two new signings that adapted well to their new league

Two summer signings in particular stood out in Round One: Juventus’ Ángel Di María and Napoli’s Khvicha Kvaratshkelia (he said he’s fine being called Kvara, so we’ll go with that for now).  Both players notched a goal and an assist in victories for their respective sides.

Di María started off as a sort of second striker alongside Dušan Vlahović, but quickly moved to his favourite position down the right flank. His cuts inside onto his favoured left foot caused Sassuolo all sorts of issues. Pinpoint crossing, great movement, and – perhaps, most importantly for Allegri – a great work rate off the ball. Di María hardly plays like a 34-year-old winger; as we saw with a few of his darting runs, his pace and acceleration are still there. The Argentine looks like a player who needed a change of scenery after taking a more rotational role in PSG’s super team. With Juventus, he’s a starter when healthy and someone who will have a massive role in supporting the attack.

The Georgian winger Kvara also got off to a great start in his league debut with Napoli. His dribbling is going to be a nightmare for fullbacks, as he’s constantly looking to take them on with a series of feints and chops to either side to create space. Kvara looks comfortable on either foot, which makes it even harder for a defender to know what side of the field to show him. Fortunately, he’s not all flash and no substance (or as they say in Italy tanto fumo niente arrosto). Every movement was deliberate and purposeful, and every ball sent in for one of his teammates was clever.

The minnows will take points from the giants this season

One of the best things about Serie A is how unpredictable the league can be. Rarely is a result a foregone conclusion before the referee blows his whistle. The three newly promoted teams were overall impressive in their first games. Lecce’s first half against Inter was more reminiscent of a five round mixed martial arts fight than an actual football match, but they gave a positive account of themselves in the second half, drawing level through their big summer signing, Assan Ceesay, who scored an impressive 20 goals last season in Switzerland with Zürich. His pace is going to be a problem on the counter, especially as bigger teams will look to impose themselves against Lecce and pin them back in their own half. Inter barely scraped by with all three points, relying on a 95th minute winner from Denzel Dumfries.

Cremonese were also about to celebrate a hard earned point away to Fiorentina, only to be let down by a howler from their new goalkeeper Andrei Radu. You may remember the name from last season, as Radu was at fault for gifting Bologna a goal in that infamous makeup game that would’ve given Inter a leg up in the Scudetto battle.

Historically, a lot of these newly promoted teams are where young Italian tacticians get their first opportunity to coach at the highest level, which is why we see a lot of these minnows come into Serie A and cause problems for the bigger clubs.

(Images from IMAGO)

You can follow every match from the 2022/23 Serie A season live with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage including shot maps, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Serie A Review: Three takeaways from the opening weekend

The Serie A season kicked off over the weekend, with some of the biggest games held over to Monday night – meaning it’s taken us until now to digest everything that happened. But here’s our take on the major talking points from an intriguing set of results.

By Matteo Bonetti, US Serie A expert

Milan remain underrated

The bookmakers currently have Milan as a near 4/1 (+380) underdog to win the Scudetto. Compare that to Inter and Juventus, who are hovering around +170, or less than 2/1, and it’s easy to see why the reigning Scudetto champions may be getting unfairly overlooked.

Losing Franck Kessié to Barcelona was a blow, but adding Charles De Ketelaere more than makes up for it even if they play completely different positions. The Belgian wonderkid is a special talent. Elegant with the ball, versatile and gifted with the type of technique that gives him a limitless ceiling. He instantly fixes one of Milan’s two weaknesses from last season (right wing and attacking midfield), so it’s fair to say Milan as a whole have strengthened. Yacine Adli and Tommaso Pobega are two new arrivals that can also play in the midfield. With Kessié gone, more will be expected from Ismaël Bennacer as the partner alongside Sandro Tonali. While none of these players have the muscle and aggression of Kessié, they are mostly tidy, ball playing midfielders that should give Milan the type of control we saw last season in most games.

Last season’s number one defence is as strong as ever and is further reinforced by the return of Simon Kjær, who was injured for the majority of the previous campaign. Pierre Kalulu stepped up in the Dane’s absence and should only continue to get better with more playing time. The chemistry being built within the club is special. When I visited Milan last season to cover a game at San Siro, I had the chance to speak with a lot of people behind the scenes, who all raved about the superb atmosphere in the locker room. They also spoke about Zlatan Ibrahimović, who despite being injured, had become a sort of spiritual leader and assistant coach, mentoring the younger players and showing them the type of mentality needed to win at the highest level.

Two new signings that adapted well to their new league

Two summer signings in particular stood out in Round One: Juventus’ Ángel Di María and Napoli’s Khvicha Kvaratshkelia (he said he’s fine being called Kvara, so we’ll go with that for now).  Both players notched a goal and an assist in victories for their respective sides.

Di María started off as a sort of second striker alongside Dušan Vlahović, but quickly moved to his favourite position down the right flank. His cuts inside onto his favoured left foot caused Sassuolo all sorts of issues. Pinpoint crossing, great movement, and – perhaps, most importantly for Allegri – a great work rate off the ball. Di María hardly plays like a 34-year-old winger; as we saw with a few of his darting runs, his pace and acceleration are still there. The Argentine looks like a player who needed a change of scenery after taking a more rotational role in PSG’s super team. With Juventus, he’s a starter when healthy and someone who will have a massive role in supporting the attack.

The Georgian winger Kvara also got off to a great start in his league debut with Napoli. His dribbling is going to be a nightmare for fullbacks, as he’s constantly looking to take them on with a series of feints and chops to either side to create space. Kvara looks comfortable on either foot, which makes it even harder for a defender to know what side of the field to show him. Fortunately, he’s not all flash and no substance (or as they say in Italy tanto fumo niente arrosto). Every movement was deliberate and purposeful, and every ball sent in for one of his teammates was clever.

The minnows will take points from the giants this season

One of the best things about Serie A is how unpredictable the league can be. Rarely is a result a foregone conclusion before the referee blows his whistle. The three newly promoted teams were overall impressive in their first games. Lecce’s first half against Inter was more reminiscent of a five round mixed martial arts fight than an actual football match, but they gave a positive account of themselves in the second half, drawing level through their big summer signing, Assan Ceesay, who scored an impressive 20 goals last season in Switzerland with Zürich. His pace is going to be a problem on the counter, especially as bigger teams will look to impose themselves against Lecce and pin them back in their own half. Inter barely scraped by with all three points, relying on a 95th minute winner from Denzel Dumfries.

Cremonese were also about to celebrate a hard earned point away to Fiorentina, only to be let down by a howler from their new goalkeeper Andrei Radu. You may remember the name from last season, as Radu was at fault for gifting Bologna a goal in that infamous makeup game that would’ve given Inter a leg up in the Scudetto battle.

Historically, a lot of these newly promoted teams are where young Italian tacticians get their first opportunity to coach at the highest level, which is why we see a lot of these minnows come into Serie A and cause problems for the bigger clubs.

(Images from IMAGO)

You can follow every match from the 2022/23 Serie A season live with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage including shot maps, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.