Atalanta drops out of the title race and risks being dragged into the chasing pack, now led by Bologna and Roma—but watch out for Tudor’s Juve…
A month ago, it seemed the title race had become a four-way battle, with Atalanta and Juventus closing in on Inter and Napoli. Then came the collapse of Thiago Motta’s Juventus “house of cards,” with the coach sacked after conceding 7 goals (and scoring none) in two games against Atalanta and Fiorentina. Meanwhile, Atalanta slipped up at home and has now officially dropped out of the Scudetto race after losing last Sunday away to Fiorentina.
As things stand, barring any upsets that could shake up the established order, it seems that the title fight has narrowed to two contenders, with Inter heavily favored over Napoli—though the latter deserves credit for not letting go.
On Sunday night, Napoli took the field with a heavy weight on their shoulders, aware that Inter’s win over Udinese earlier in the day had erased their margin for error. The determination with which Conte’s side aggressively took on Milan showed that Napoli is not yet ready to step aside and roll out the red carpet for the Nerazzurri’s triumphal march.
In the Serie A stock market, Atalanta and Milan’s values are crashing, while Lazio’s are slightly down after being held to a costly home draw by Torino on Monday night—a result that, for now, pushes the Biancocelesti out of the European picture.
Bologna and Roma, on the other hand, are flying high and are by far the most in-form teams at the moment. Italiano is performing a minor miracle, reaffirming Bologna’s high-ranking status after last season’s breakthrough under Thiago Motta. Since maintaining success is always harder than achieving it in the first place, if Bologna can sustain this level through to the end of the season—perhaps even reclaiming a spot in the Champions League—Italiano would be the frontrunner for the Serie A Coach of the Year award. What’s more, credit is due to the Bologna coach given that the squad was anything but reinforced this summer—in fact, they lost their best player from last season, Zirkzee, who joined Manchester United.
The other team cruising along at full sail, with a coach truly performing miracles, is Claudio Ranieri’s Roma. Two months ago, on these pages, I wrote that the Giallorossi’s lopsided fixture list seemed to offer an opportunity for their European ambitions. To be honest, I thought those observations were purely theoretical speculation—I never imagined Roma would be able to fully seize the opportunity, stringing together 14 unbeaten results, including a current streak of 7 consecutive wins.
Claudio Ranieri, in his final season on the bench before becoming a Roma executive, has completely transformed the Roman environment, taking a team that was on the edge of a cliff and turning it into a contender for a Champions League spot next season. Of those last 7 straight wins, Roma won 1-0 in 4 of them. Narrowing the analysis from medium to short term, the last 3 wins in this ongoing streak have all come by the same 1-0 scoreline. This is a solid team, aware of its own strength and capable of capitalizing on a decisive play to get the most out of each match—not without effort, but with fierce determination.
It’s the complete opposite of the apathetic, passive, and demoralized Roma that was falling apart in all departments under Juric’s management. Sometimes football is really simple: it all comes down to making the right choices—starting with the bench.
