Conte’s words and the Gasp and Chivu effect: a comment from Ravelli in the Gazzetta

And it was a turning point. Two new leaders, Inter and Roma, which could have been three if Milan hadn’t wasted a double lead on Saturday evening, five teams in three points with Bologna which appears in the Champions League zone again this season and Juve, stopped in the derby by the heart of Toro, not too far away. We are on the roller coaster at the top of the table and everything suggests that we will stay there for a long time, if not until the end. They all slow down in turn, if it is true that even the top teams have already suffered three defeats, just like Napoli, Milan only one (on the first day against Cremonese), but they have lost 7 points against teams fighting to save themselves and do not have the solidity to lock down the matches, once they have taken the lead. The Nerazzurri are at +14 goal difference, while the Roma of their less prolific attackers are at +7, an indicator that seems to suggest two different ways of climbing to the top.

the technician’s hand

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It is the coaches who left their mark on the day: Chivu, Gasp, Italiano, Conte. Inter appear decidedly hungrier than their last two matches in the league (Verona) and Champions League (Kairat) in which they won without showing off. Chivu’s screams must be served. Result: lead after 127 seconds, Lautaro calming his apparent perennial bad mood as an insatiable captain (he hadn’t scored in Serie A since 4 October) and if the story of goals like ketchup is true, i.e. they all come out together, he can start again to update the statistics (in the meantime yesterday he reached Mazzola), a match that remained at 1-0 for a long time, but without ever giving the impression of being at risk. Only in the final, when Bonny had already given greater peace of mind (once again without making Thuram regret it) was there a comeback from Lazio with a crossbar from Gila and a save from Sommer. However, overall the Nerazzurri seemed more attentive and less presumptuous, they put on the field an intensity that had not been seen in the last week and which translates into a ferocious pressing from which the two goals and also the greatest dangers arise, given by three yellow cards, all to stop Zaccagni’s counterattacks. But in short, an overwhelming victory in full Chivu style.

the gasp effect

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Roma, just like Bologna, are not affected by the midweek cup competition. On the contrary: fresh from the non-trivial trip to Glasgow, he repeats the success. They had less than 72 hours to recover and, although for nine elevenths the starting line-up was the same as the one deployed in Scotland, they beat a physical team like Udinese. Good results erase tiredness, which depends on the muscles but also and above all on the head. It was difficult to imagine a similar impact from Gasperini at the beginning. Taking into account that his teams flourish in the spring, one wonders where Roma can go. In the meantime he is there, looking down on everyone, he will remain there for the two weeks of the break and Gasp is not afraid to light up an incandescent square of his own, which does not feel the thrill of being first in the eleventh matchday since Garcia (“It’s right that our people believe in the scudetto”).

defeatism

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Storm in Naples who comes down from the throne and has to settle for the third position stool, with the same points as the unfortunate AC Milan of Parma (but in terms of goal difference and head-to-head matches they are also behind). Defeated by an excellent Italian Bologna who rose to fifth place (one might say that it is the Atalanta of this season in which Atalanta is lacking, but in reality it is the Bologna of recent years that has managed, after the historic victory of the Italian Cup, to improve even further), who despite having had two days less rest and had played 70′ in the Europa League with ten men, but yesterday came first on all balls. For Napoli, further confirmation of how they struggle to manage the double commitment, in the Champions League they are currently 24th (the last place needed to qualify for the playoffs), they have suffered five defeats throughout the season. But this is not the worst news and neither is the convoluted game of the Italian champions, with practically no shots on target and an attack that, without Lukaku, is struggling terribly. The worst news are the sentences of Antonio Conte, who stopped attacking internal and external enemies, after accusing them of defeatism, for an analysis that couldn’t seem more defeatist: “There is no alchemy. I don’t want to accompany a dead person”. It is difficult to understand whether such a gloomy metaphor will be the right key to revitalizing the Italian champions.