The Serie A season is well and truly under way. This season looks set to be a very exciting one as you feel that it's going to be very close between Juventus and Roma to see who will win the Scuedetto this season. However, there is another big decision on who will get that vital important 3rd spot and qualify for the Champions League. I will be discussing all the teams that are in contention to finish 3rd in Serie A.
Lets start off with AC Milan. AC Milan had a very eventful transfer window, they made some very good signings by bringing in Carlos Bacca, Luiz Adriano and Andrea Bertolacci. Lets not forget they have brought back the maverick Mario Balotelli. You feel that Milan have the firepower upfront to hurt any team in the league. However, my fear for Milan is that there defending is not convincing enough which Empoli showed last Saturday night as they had a bucket load of chances which they did not take. If Empoli can expose Milan defensive frailties you'd expect the likes of Juventus and Roma to punish them. On a better note, the Rossoneri do boast amazing firepower upfront and if the likes of Bacca, Luiz Adriano and Mario Balotelli, when he's fit, score goals AC Milan will stand a great chance this season.
Lets talk about AC Milan's city rivals Inter. Inter also had a very eventful transfer window. They brought in a top defender in Miranda from Atletico Madrid and brought Stevan Jovetic from Man City, and so far looks a steal with 2 goals in 2 Serie A games. They've also brought in one of the best young defensive midfielders in Geoffery Kondogbia and talented attackers in Adem Llajic and Peresic. On the other hand, they have lost players. They've lost the extremely talented Mateo Kovacic to Real Madird and lost Hernanas to Serie A rivals Juventus. With all this transfer activity that happened at Inter, I feel that they have got a very strong squad and unlike AC Milan they've got a good and boasted defence. Inter have got the firepower up front with Stevan Jovetic, Rodrigo Palacio and Inter's main attacking threat Mauro Icardi. They've got a powerful and rugged midfield with Guarin, Medel, Kondogbia and Felipe Melo, who is another new signing. Defensively is where I believe big improvements have been made with the signing of Miranda, who I believe will improve their defense immensely. They've also handed him a new partner at centre back in Jeison Murillo who was impressive at the Copa America for Columbia. It's all looking good for Inter. However, my problem is that they've lost all there creative players, as I said they've lost Kovacic and Hernanes but lets not forget they lost Xherdan Shaqiri who has gone to Stoke. So this has left me wondering where will they creativity come from, Jovetic or Peresic maybe ?
Lets go to Rome and talk Lazio. Lazio had a fantastic season last year. They secured that all important 3rd place on the final day of the season against Napoli, it was some game. However, Lazio have had a terrible start to this season by being knocked out the Champions League already by Bayer Leverkusen and also they were beating 4 - 0 by Chievo in Serie A last weekend. Furthermore, Lazio haven't really done much in the transfer window, in my opinion, although they have brought in the extremely talented winger Ricardo Kishina from Ajax, who will definitely excite the Stadio Olimpico crowd, and we finally get to see Ravel Morrison play for Lazio, and just to say if Stefano Pioli can get the best out of him, they have got some player in their ranks. Other than that they haven't really done much while all the other sides in an around them have got better. So I believe it is going to be down to the squad of last season to put in some stellar performances for them to reach third and lets not forget they have got some really good players, with the likes of Felipe Anderson, Antonio Candreva and Keita Balde. Only time will tell for Lazio.
TO NAPLES AND GON-ZA-LO. Napoli had a disastrous end to last season. On the final day of the season they had to beat Lazio to qualify for the Champions League but they do still boast a quality squad for this season. The likes of Hamsik, Callejon, Insinge and of course Gonzalo Higuain will look to push Napoli back into the Champions League. Napoli, overall, have a good squad but no doubt about it the main man they will be looking to for inspiration will be Gonzalo Higuain.
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