After five consecutive victories, Simone Inzaghi's Inter Milan surprisingly fell against Alessio Dionisi's Sassuolo, which after defeating Juventus 4-2 also beat Inter, thanks to an outstanding performance by Domenico Berardi, as usual the Neroverdi's top player.
Maurizio Sarri's Lazio returned to winning ways, three points also for Juventus, Napoli, Atalanta and Milan. Roma collapsed badly in front of Alberto Gilardino's Genoa: 4-1 for the Rossoblu. It's been a horrible start for Jose Mourinho and his men. Let's see what happened midweek:
TEAM OF THE WEEK - GENOA
It was hard to imagine that from the match between Genoa and Roma, it would be the former to emerge victorious, let alone imagine the 4-1 result.
Alberto Gilardino and his boys had it so easy against Roma, scoring four goals. Roma's start has been shocking, only 5 points in 6 games, its a total worthy of a team in danger of relegation to Serie B. Of course, this cannot be the case, because a team with Lorenzo Pellegrini, Paulo Dybala and Romelu Lukaku will rise again sooner or later, but the situation is definitely alarming.
Roma does not know how to attack and does not know how to defend. The team has failed to beat Salernitana, Verona, Torino and Genoa: so it is impossible to see glory days in the Giallorossi's future. The season has just started, but right now Roma is a mess. Some fans dreamed of the Scudetto, but now the real challenge is to win three games in a row.
Kudos must be given to Genoa: Gilardino prepared the match to perfection, taking advantage of the talent of Albert Gudmundusson who bamboozled the entire Roma defence, despite the injuries of Kevin Strootman and Milan Badelj the Genoa coach managed to nullify Dybala and Lukaku and bring home three golden points - so giving their fans a magical night.
SURPRISE OF THE WEEK - INTER 1-2 SASSUOLO
Inter seemed headed for an extended winning streak, but on their way they found Dionisi' Sassuolo, a real top team slayer. After beating Juventus, Dionisi and his boys also defeated Inter's Lautaro and his teammates.
Nicolo Barella and co. had taken the lead themselves, thanks to a nice goal scored in the final minutes of the first half by Denzel Dumfries, but in the second half only Sassuolo took the field. In particular, Mimmo Berardi, a player always wrongly underestimated for his talent and ballistic abilities, took the team by hand: first the assist for Nedim Bajrami, then a crazy goal with a perfect shot finishing inside the corner, with Jurgen Sommer remaining motionless.
Davide Frattesi, Barella, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Lautaro, Marcus Thuram, Fede Dimarco: none of the Nerazzurri aces were able to turn the game around, and so Inzaghi was forced to surrender, the first defeat of the season for Inter, who will now surely want to react as soon as possible. Great credit to Sassuolo, however, who are proving to be a difficult team for all the giants to beat, thanks to a fast, vertical and venomous style of play.
COACH OF THE WEEK - ANDREA ANDREAZZOLI
Andrea Andreazzoli was called to the Tuscan club's bench at a time of great crisis. After the 7-0 loss to Roma came the inevitable dismissal for Paolo Zanetti, with the call of the new coach, who on Wednesday led his side to their first win of the season, decided of course by Tommaso Baldanzi, Empoli's strongest and most talented player.
The Tuscans won their first match of the season precisely against a team which could be a direct contender in the race for staying in Serie A, namely Paulo Sousa's Salernitana.
Empoli played an excellent game, scoring only one goal but coming close to doubling the score several times. Baldanzi was the best man on the field, as the team returned to winning ways after a horrendous start to the season.
Obviously Andreazzoli may not have changed that much from a tactical point of view, but from a mental aspect he certainly left his mark. And that deserves merit, no doubt.
