Italian Serie A, Week 6: Lazio Reign Over Rome With Win Over Roma

The match was turned on its head five minutes after the break though when Kjaer was shown the door. He took down Chris Brocchi in the box and the referee showed no hesitation in giving him the red card. Hernanes then stepped to the spot and knocked home the penalty for the equalizer.

For those of you that like your scores ordered and summarized:

Cesena 0-0 Fiorentina

Let me tell you, Italian football, this is not a way to go about re-branding yourself to the world. I try and try to defend you, going around telling everyone that you’re so much more exciting than English football, so much more competitive than Spanish football -- and then you go and trot out a bunch of scoreless matches.

Now get scoring, already.

However, Mazzarri’s gamble would eventually backfire, as his defense faltered in the 82nd minute. Sebastian Giovinco provided the assist on the winner, hitting a well-placed low cross to the back post from the right side of the field, and poorly marked Francesco Modesto tapped it in to give Parma an unlikely winner.

Palermo had clearly had enough by that point, and it wasn’t even the 60th minute. Despite attempts by caretaker manager Devis Mangia to change things up -- replacing Abel Hernandez with Mauricio Pinilla, shifting to a 4-4-1-1 with the removal of Fabrizio Miccoli in favor of Edgar Alvarez -- nothing brought them even close to goal.

And so the rossoneri finally find another win -- will others falter, making room for Milan to claw their way back up the table? Or maybe we should all realize there are more than thirty matches left to play, and leave the scudetto talk for the dark days of winter.

Then again, considering some of the names on the Milan bench, Allegri probably didn’t have many options to help with the attack, and has likely resorted to simply crossing his fingers and praying that the Milan injury apocalypse of 2011 is nearly over. With the weak defense, it’s hard to imagine high-scoring Palermo won’t score at least one, so now the burden’s on the Milan forwards to simply score more.

Is it just me that doesn’t know a couple of the names on the Milan bench? Are last year’s title winners really that burdened by injury? Yes, it appears they are, with Antonini getting another start in defense, and both Nocerino and Aquilani running out in midfield.

The rossoneri are desperate for a win here at the San Siro, but Palermo are off to a bright start this season, and will want to keep their pace with Napoli and Cagliari.

The early goal has certainly opened up the match, however, with Catania determined to find an answering goal, flying down both wings. Inter, meanwhile, look to want not just one more but two or three additional goals. It’s the home side that are getting into the more dangerous positions, however, with Alejandro Gomez and Mariano Izco both frustrating the Inter defense. Still no smiles on Montella’s wet face, however.