Serie A, Round 3: Roma win, Napoli and Inter both drop points

The third would-be/should-be title contender in Serie A this season did their best to dispel any notion of competence, as Napoli faced an Udinese side that played poorly for most of the match and still found a way to lose. Of course, they didn’t play particularly well themselves, with a heavily rotated lineup leading to a flat and disjointed display that put very little threat on goal until Rafa Benítez finally started using his substitutes late in the match. That didn’t help yet another example of shoddy set-piece defending, though, as Danilo ran unmarked to latch on to a poor clearance of a free kick and scored to give Udinese a shocking win as Napoli sink even further in to their early-season doldrums.

Inter Milan were hoping to keep pace with the league leaders, but apparently Nemanja Vidić had other ideas, giving the ball away in the box early, which allowed Franco Vázquez to tap in and put Palermo an early lead. That put the hosts off to a flying start, and it wasn’t until late in the first half that Inter looked anywhere near like themselves. Mateo Kovačić was able to continue his strong start to the season with a late goal after snagging a loose ball at the top of the box and blasting it at goal, and then early in the second half it seemed like it was all Inter, all the time as Walter Mazzarri’s side put their full authority on the match. Palermo were able to fight back after bringing on Andrea Belotti, who gave Inter’s back line all kinds of trouble, and had a pair of goals called off for a foul and offsides. The match ended 1-1, but Palermo have to feel very good about the result and how they played.

It took just three minutes for Palermo to open the scoring, when a terrible defensive lapse from Nemanja Vidić allowed Franco Vázquez to nick the ball inside the penalty area and stroke beyond Samir Handanović from close range.

It was a terrible start for Inter, and they didn’t improve in a hurry. Throughout the entire opening half they were ponderous in possession, and only really threatened with efforts from distance. Indeed, that was how they fortuitously equalised three minutes before halftime, when a loose ball on the edge of the penalty area popped out for Mateo Kovačić to lash home.

Udinese: Karnezis, Widmer, Danilo, Heurtaux, Piris, Allan, Badu, Guilherme, Kone, Bruno Fernándes (Thereau 70’), Di Natale (Muriel 82’)

Goals: Danilo (71’).

Awwww!

He hopped the ad boards, jumped a wall, climbed the stairs and then walked across the aisle to huge her

The home side threatened early on. Destro spun his marker in the box, only to fire weakly at 20-year-old debutant Alessio Cragno. The forward did put his next chance away on ten minutes. Florenzi ran past a flat-footed defence before rolling the ball across the box for Destro to sweep in his first of the season from close range.

Luca Ceppitelli nodded a free kick just past the far post for the visitors before Douglas Maicon narrowly missed out on adding a third. The Brazilian ran on to a Florenzi chip, but the ball bounced too close to Cragno, who came off his line to snuff out the danger.

Mauro Icardi netted a hat-trick in Inter’s win over Sassuolo, and so picked up where he left off after an impressive end to last season. Icardi certainly isn’t the most popular footballer off the field, but on it he’s living up to his reputation as one of the most talented young players in Serie A at present. He’ll no doubt pose the biggest threat to the Palermo defence in this match.

Palermo injuries and suspensions

Seven years has passed since the Neapolitans conquered Udine, though, on the other hand, Udinese hasn’t beaten Napoli in the last six meetings.

Pretty much every player that could play as a left wing-back is out. Even though Pasquale has recovered, it’s unlikely Stramaccioni will risk him. Instead, the reports suggest he will revert to a four men defense, deploying Iván Piris as a left fullback.

The visitors were still on top into the second half, albeit still dogged by a failure to take their goalscoring opportunities. They could have been ahead within 15 minutes of the restart, though Marchisio dragged Tevez’s low corner wide of the far post. Milan continued to sit deep, though their quick counter-attacks invariably broke down before coming to anything.

AC Milan: Abbiati; De Sciglio, Zapata, Rami, Abate; Muntari, De Jong, Poli (Torres 76’); El Shaarawy (Bonaventura 67’), Menez, Honda (Pazzini 83’).

Key matchup - Milan’s mobile attack vs. Juve’s back three

AC Milan injuries and suspensions

The highlight of Round 3 in Serie A is undoubtedly Juventus’s trip to the San Siro to face off against AC Milan. Last season, the outcome felt inevitable, and sure enough, the Old Lady won both games.

But this time around, the new-look Rossoneri have made themselves the team to beat. They’ve already scored eight goals (although they’ve conceded five) by stuffing their attack full of pacey forwards. Best of all, they’ve booted Massimiliano Allegri and replaced him with Filippo Inzaghi, who better embodies the Milan spirit that’s been missing as of late.