Another dull 0-0 draw for Juventus against Parma, and -- big surprise -- Atalanta beat Genoa.
With a cold snap covering much of Europe under a blanket of snow and ice, Serie A matches in Weeks 21-23 were delayed. Three were set to be made up on Wednesday, February 15. However, Bologna and Fiorentina will still have two matches in hand, while Parma and Juventus will each have one to make up. Someone get these clubs a snowblower, will you?
Genoa's weakness at the back was well and truly exposed on Sunday afternoon. Those who weren't watching Novara beat Inter Milan were treated to a fun sight in Sicily: Catania scoring four goals, and then very nearly taunting Genoa for the rest of the match, almost daring them to try their luck with one of their own. The rossoblu seemed to fall apart nearly every time Catania crossed into their half -- will it be the same for Atalanta midweek? After all, prior to the Catania match, Genoa had taken 3-0 leads against both Lazio and Napoli, and allowed both teams back into the match, finishing each with a score of 3-2. If la Dea can't score during this one, well, they might need to start fretting about relegation.
You might think this one would be on on Wednesday. You would be wrong. It's been moved to March 7, along with Bologna - Juventus and Parma - Fiorentina.
Both clubs were given an unexpected snow day this past weekend, and one only hopes they spent it cuddled under blankets sipping hot cocoa. In Week 22, Parma pulled off a win against Chievo Verona, but only managed it due to an own goal by Luciano. Meanwhile, Juventus hosted Siena, who more or less decided they'd been invited to a tea party, plopped themselves down in the grass, and made themselves comfortable just in front of goal. Man, that was a dull 0-0 draw. AC Milan have managed to pull themselves up into first place, but the Old Lady have two games in hand, and just one win will send them back up top.
Serie A 2012, Round 21 Make Up Matches: Parma, Juventus Draw; Atalanta Beat Genoa
To be fair to Juventus, it was only three rounds ago that they recorded their last league win, a 2-1 victory over Udinese. But with last week's mind-numbing Siena match still fresh in everyone's mind, it's easy to feel as if all the bianconeri do these days is draw. And sure enough, that's what they did on Wednesday evening against Parma, with both Mirko Vucinic and Alessandro Matri competing to see who could put the most shots off-target. Sebastian Giovinco did his best to make Juve regret giving him up, but couldn't quite beat Gigi Buffon.
Juventus may not have lost since last coming to Parma, but geez, at some point you have to wonder -- is that really a positive? It just might be time for Antonio Conte to come out of his shell and show a bit of fearlessness.
In other kiss-kiss-let's-make-up news, Atalanta defeated Genoa 1-0, putting a further dent in the rossoblu confidence. And no, the goal didn't come courtesy of Germán Denis, although he did assist Guido Marilungo in finding the goal.
We'd talk about the table, but with some clubs still on 21 matches, and others up to 23, there's really no point. And it kind of gives us a headache.
Feb 15 2:47p by Kirsten Schlewitz - 0 comments