David Beckham might want to pack his thermals. Milan gets rather chilly in January, after all, and by the time Becks arrives he may find there isn’t an awful lot for him to do. After beating Napoli 1-0 last night, the Rossoneri sit top of Serie A, unbeaten since September. The manner of yesterday’s winning goal suggests that David’s golden swingers may not be required.
“This team has always invested in genius, and genius, even when it doesn’t dazzle, often decides,” reflects Luigi Garlando astutely in this morning’s Gazzetta. Ronaldinho had rarely sparkled during the first 86 minutes of yesterday’s game, yet it was his bewitching delivery from a free-kick on the left that lured German Denis into heading past his own goalkeeper. “Denis couldn’t have done any different,” grinned Ronaldinho afterwards, who has been widely credited with the goal despite the Napoli striker’s intervention.
Beckham, of course, knows all about decisive set-piece contributions, and in reality he will play some part for Milan, taking a few free-kicks and likely scoring one or two goals along the way. But he has been afforded enough column inches already over the past few weeks, and given that he doesn’t arrive for another two months, analysis of his precise role at San Siro can be left for a later date. More newsworthy right now is the simple fact that Milan sit all alone atop Serie A for the first time since 2004.
“Few people thought after the first two games we’d be on top of the table so quickly,” beamed Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti after yesterday’s win. Few would even have bet on Ancelotti keeping his job this long. Successive defeats to Bologna and Genoa made for an inauspicious start after last year’s fifth-place finish and despite owner Silvio Berlusconi’s repeated statements to the contrary, the consensus among reporters was that the manager’s days were numbered.
Since then Milan have dropped just two points in eight games, beating Lazio and Inter along the way. They now have nine points more than they did at the corresponding point last season. This despite a string of injuries to high-profile starters; yesterday Ancelotti was deprived of Andrea Pirlo, Alessandro Nesta, Philippe Senderos and Mathieu Flamini, while Kakha Kaladze was restricted to a late appearance off the bench.
In such a context it is hardly surprising that Milan have not always looked fluid - last week, in particular, they were outplayed by Atalanta - yet they have performed best in the very area where injuries have hit hardest. Nesta is yet to play a league game for Milan this season while Kaladze hasn’t started one since September, but they have now kept five clean sheets in their last six league games.
Such solidity is not immediately easy to explain. Christian Abbiati represents an upgrade over Zeljko Kalac and Dida in goal, but Ancelotti had hoped not to rely so heavily on Paolo Maldini’s ageing legs at centre-back. Yesterday he was forced to call on undersized, overage journeyman Giuseppe Favalli in order to give Maldini a rest - a move that might have proved disastrous had Napoli not been forced to rein in their attacking ambitions when Christian Maggio was sent off for a second bookable offence shortly before half-time.
Flamini has helped when fit - even if sometimes only off the bench. His tireless running has lightened the load on Gennaro Gattuso and Massimo Ambrosini, both of whom have played better in the early stages of this season than they did for large parts of the last one. In a more subtle way, Marco Borriello may also have done his part - holding the ball up in a way that Alberto Gilardino, Alexandre Pato and Filippo Inzaghi rarely did last season and helping Milan to retain possession higher up the pitch.
One or two cynics in the Napoli camp left yesterday’s game muttering that the referees have helped too - and the 85th-minute penalty award against Michele Pazienza was certainly a harsh one. Then again, goalkeeper Gennaro Iezzo was a good three yards off his line by the time he saved said penalty moments later.
“I feel sorry for Milan as they were nervous and dirty,” insisted Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis after the game. “I prefer to watch a side who sits third in the table that plays good football than a team who is top but doesn’t.” Which is a shame really, since his team are now fourth. Nevertheless Napoli will recover, and can take encouragement from the way they matched Milan, away from home, when they had a full compliment.
But if De Laurentiis prefers free-flowing football then he could do a lot worse than getting hold of a tape of Udinese’s 2-2 draw with Genoa yesterday afternoon. Udinese could have made first place their own with a win at the Stadio Friuli, and looked on course to do just that when Gaetano D’Agostino gave them the lead from the penalty spot - another dubious decision, incidentally - in just the fourth minute.
Genoa had previously scored just once away from home, but might have had a hatful here were it not for a string of fine saves from Samir Handanovic. Diego Milito eventually beat Handanovic from the penalty spot - after the goalkeeper attempted an unusual forward dive - and when Giuseppe Sculli hammered home a second minutes later it was hard to see how Udinese would come back. But having shown their worst, Udinese went on to show their best - sweeping Genoa away after the introduction of Antonio Di Natale and ultimately coming closest to taking all three points.
For now Udinese will have to make do with joint-second, while Genoa will settle for their best start to a Serie A season since 1929. “It is shaping up to be a beautiful championship,” noted Milan midfielder Clarence Seedorf this morning. Let it be known now, before the hype goes into overdrive, that it wasn’t Beckham who made it so.
Round 10 talking points
• Inter are the team currently sharing second-place with Udinese after scraping to a 3-2 win over Reggina. The result in itself is a perfectly decent one, but the ease with which Inter gave up a 2-0 lead before Ivan Cordoba’s injury-time winner was alarming. Jose Mourinho still deserves the benefit of the doubt, not least because Serie A is as competitive as it has been in years, but recent displays have not been encouraging.
• It’s all very well beating Milan and Lazio, but Bologna manager Daniele Arrigoni will find himself out of a job very soon if his team continue to capitulate against Serie A’s lesser lights. “Contemptible,” was Bologna president Francesca Menarini’s take on yesterday’s 5-1 captiulation away to Cagliari.
• Roma’s players didn’t get home until 2am after Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Juventus, but around 100 angry fans waited up for them - greeting the team bus with a barrage of abuse and projectiles. The Giallorossi actually started brightly against Juventus, and were unfortunate to have a winnable game against struggling Sampdoria postponed in midweek, but this was their sixth defeat in just nine league games. Reports over the weekend suggest the fans aren’t the only ones losing patience with manager Luciano Spalletti.
• Then again, Juventus manager Claudio Ranieri was supposed to be on the verge of losing his job too, before his team reeled off back-to-back wins over Real Madrid, Torino, Bologna and Roma. “Perfect players”, crowed the front-page of Turin-based Tuttosport, steadfastly refusing to give the Tinkerman any credit for the turnaround.
Results: Atalanta 0-0 Lecce Cagliari 5-1 Bologna, Juventus 2-0 Roma, Lazio 1-0 Catania, Milan 1-0 Napoli, Palermo 3-0 Chievo, Reggina 2-3 Inter, Sampdoria 1-0 Torino, Siena 1-0 Fiorentina, Udinese 2-2 Genoa
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Original post by Paolo Bandini