it's not catenaccio | Semi-Professional Italian Football Analyst

Allegri’s Tactical Switch Maintains Juventus’ Serie A Title Bid

Juventus remain on course for a sixth successive Serie A title and third successive domestic double. The Old Lady sit top of Serie A after 20 fixtures with 48 points, a point clear of Roma. The champions’ four defeats this season have all come away from home against Inter, Milan, Genoa and most recently Fiorentina.

Manager Massimiliano Allegri changed the team’s formation to a 4-2-3-1 in order to fit Juan Cuadrado, Paulo Dybala, Mario Mandžukić, and Gonzalo Higuaín into the first eleven. The effects were immediate with Juventus securing a comfortable 2-0 home victory against fourth-placed Lazio on Sunday.

Balotelli might return to the Premier League

There is news that Italian striker Mario Balotelli might return to the Premier League during the January transfer window.

The player’s agent has confirmed that the striker has been in contact with Premier League clubs about a possible return for the player.

LI GETS 12 MORE WEEKS

Yonghong Li has managed to convince Silvio Berlusconi to grant him an extra twelve weeks to come up with the bucks to finalize the transfer of the ownership of AC Milan.

Berlusconi’s stance was pretty strict when he had spoken about the issue the previous month as he had dropped signs that if the bucks didn’t reach him within the time that had been given to the other party, he might terminate the deal and keep his club to himself.

INTER MISS OUT IN EUROPE AGAIN

Inter Milan have been sent out of European action yet again as they lost 3-2 to Israeli outfit Hapoel Be’er Sheva in a Europa League clash on Thursday night.

Ben Sahar came off the bench to get the winner as the hosts came from two goals down to claim all three points.

GiampieroVentura seals his 2nd qualification match in charge of Italy

Following Antonio Conte’s decision to step down from his managerial position around 2 weeks later, the Italian Football Federation announced that Giampiero Ventura was the man selected to replace Antonio Conte and this was confirmed on July 17 of 2016.

So far, Giampiero Ventura has guided the Italian national side to 3 World Cup 2018 qualifiers after facing off with Israel, Spain and Macedonia. Italy overcame Israel with a final scoreboard of 3-1 but they had to settle with a 1-1 draw against Spain.

MILAN COACH DISPEL FABREGAS LINK

AC Milan head coach Vincenzo Montella has dispelled rumours linking Chelsea out-of-favour star player Cesc Fabregas with a move to the club.

Fabregas was widely speculated as the replacement for injured Milan player Riccardo Montolivo. Montolivo is expected to remain sidelined for the almost the rest of the season after he picked up a knee ligament injury during international duty. Montolivo picked up the injury during the Italy-Spain duel in Turin.

Benatia Compares Massimiliano Allegri to Pep Guardiola

Juventus managed to find the best possible successor for Antonio Conte when they brought in Massimiliano Allegri.

It was seen as a stopgap solution at that time. It was because Allegri had just been sacked from his role at AC Milan, although he still remains the last manager to have led Milan to a league title. There was undoubted quality within the manager as it is starting to become evident. After having led Juventus to even more league titles and one Champions League final, Allegri has been as successful, if not better, than Conte.

As.Roma crashed out of the Champions League

Porto have made it to the UEFA Champions League group stages for the 6 successive season after claiming a convincing 4-1 aggregate victory over As.Roma.

The first leg resulted with a final scoreboard of 1-1 and everything had to be settled in the home turf of As.Roma at the StadioOlimpico which finished with Porto coming out on top with triumph.

Massimiliano Allegri reckons Miralem Pjanic as Best Future Player

Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri reckons that midfielder Miralem Pjanic has the potential to become one of the best playmakers in the world.

After spending five years at Roma, the Bosnian midfielder has completed a move to the reigning Italian champions. Juventus spent a whopping € 32 million on the 26-year-old, as they were also aware that midfielder Paul Pogba would be leaving to Manchester United. Pjanic is not the most expensive acquisition by Juventus in the summer, as they spend an even bigger amount – £ 78 million – on striker Gonzalo Higuain from Napoli.

NAPOLI MIGHT NOT REPLACE HIGUAIN

Italian giant Napoli are reported not to be keen on finding a replacement for former top striker Gonzalo Higuain that was sold to archrival Juventus for a record transfer fee.

A lot of consistently scoring strikers were linked with the club o serve as replacement. However, Football Italia opined that the management might go with the option of Manolo Gabbiadini and Arkadiusz Milik this season.

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