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It’s one of many first indicators that the season is effectively and really on its manner.
On Wednesday, Serie A launched the fixtures for the 2021-22 season. It’ll be a season not like any we’ve seen in a very long time, as this 12 months the andata and ritorna gained’t mirror one another. Previously, the season can be much more predictable by way of stretches that had been comparatively simple and those who can be more difficult, however now with the second half of the season out of sequence it will likely be harder to map out the trail to the championship.
There are a variety of issues that we nonetheless don’t find out about this coming 12 months. Juventus have barely dipped their toe into the switch market, and whereas its unlikely that there’s an enormous mercato given the group’s monetary state of affairs, the roster will possible take a look at least somewhat bit completely different by the point video games begin on Aug. 22. However the reveal at all times does prove a storyline or two, and this 12 months is not any exception.
As has been custom the previous few seasons right here at BWRAO, we’ll take a deeper dive into the schedule and select the 5 most intriguing matchups at first look. Let’s go.
For the third consecutive 12 months, Juventus and Napoli are scheduled to satisfy one another inside the first three weeks of the season. Hopefully this time round there gained’t be the … disturbances that affected final season’s recreation.
That mentioned, the storylines on this recreation write themselves. Napoli had been effectively on their solution to qualifying for the Champions League — and dooming Juve to Thursday nights within the course of — earlier than blowing a lead late in opposition to Hellas Verona on the final day of the season and permitting the Bianconeri to slide into the highest 4.
That led to a variety of modifications in Naples. Supervisor Gennaro Gattuso fell out with Aurelio De Laurentiis and was changed by Luciano Spalletti. Spalletti is an effective coach, however his profession has been that of Serie A’s perpetual bridesmaid, and it stays to be seen whether or not he’ll get his group to observe him the way in which they did his predecessor. There’s additionally a query as as to if among the group’s most essential gamers will probably be there. Kalidou Koulibaly is perpetually in demand as one among Europe’s higher center-backs, and there are questions in regards to the standing of Lorenzo Insigne, whose contract expires on the finish of the season and could possibly be moved if it isn’t renewed.
These two groups have at all times been across the prime of the league for years now, and this recreation will probably be an early alternative for them to place down a marker within the race for the scudetto.
The Serie A training carousel was spinning much more than typical this summer time, and one of many strangest strikes got here in Sassuolo, the place longtime coach Roberto De Zerbi determined to go overseas and accepted a suggestion from Shakhtar Donetsk. He was changed by Alessio Dionisi, who led Empoli to the Serie B title final season to carry them again into the highest flight.
The exodus may not cease on the touchline.
Manuel Locatelli, Domenico Berardi, Jeremie Boga, and maybe extra may transfer on to greater golf equipment by the point the season begins, leaving the Neroverdi bereft of a variety of the components that made them out of the hardest outs within the league over the previous few years. Their early kind will probably be telling, but when they’ll get wherever near what they did in the previous few years, this recreation would be the final in a tough early-October stretch, following the Derby della Mole, a house recreation in opposition to Roma, and the Derby d’Italia — with each derbies approaching the street. With the Champions League additionally sprinkled into that group of video games, how Juve finishes that string will probably be essential, and Sassuolo’s journey to Turin will probably be both an opportunity to consolidate an ideal run of kind or to arrest some struggles.
In contrast to Sassuolo, La Dea will probably be comparatively unchanged this season. They’ve bene a thorn in Juve’s facet for years now, as Atalanta have a 3-6-1 report in opposition to the Bianconeri because the 2016-17 season in league play.
This recreation will probably be a serious touchstone within the season. By this level, the form of the title race will possible be much more clear, and if these two groups are, as many anticipate, close to the highest of that race, this recreation could possibly be fairly essential certainly. As well as, it comes on the weekend of February 12-13, so a possible Champions League Spherical of 16 tie will probably be within the image as effectively. This can be a recreation that might have a variety of implications for the run-in because the enterprise finish of the season commences.
It’s reasonably superb that within the two years Antonio Conte was at Inter he by no means performed a recreation on the Allianz Stadium when there have been followers there.
In fact, Conte isn’t on the helm of the defending champions (I simply threw up in my mouth somewhat typing these phrases). With little confidence within the group’s path and monetary state of affairs, Conte reduce bait and was changed by Simone Inzaghi. The three-5-2 will stay, however the chief will probably be completely different, as will some key personnel. It stays to be seen whether or not Christian Eriksen will ever play soccer once more, not to mention in Serie A, which does have a rule prohibiting gamers with implanted pacemakers from enjoying. The longer term is much much less ambiguous within the case of Achraf Hakimi, who has since moved to Paris Saint-Germain however was one among Conte’s most essential gamers the 12 months.
This early-April recreation, coming in the beginning of the house stretch, goes to be on the Allianz, and with followers hopefully within the stands this might effectively be an early decisive benefit, with the added wrinkle of how Simone Inzaghi will alter to being on the very prime of the desk for the primary time in his profession.
This barely must be written. Maurizio Sarri could have met his outdated costs for the primary time in November on the Stadio Olimpico, however this recreation in Turin within the penultimate recreation of the season may, relying on how the season shakes out, be decisive in any variety of methods for these two golf equipment. If Juve handle to reclaim their title, this recreation may both be a useless rubber or a criticial end result within the title chase.
How will Lazio adapt to Sarri’s system after years of Inzaghi’s 3-5-2? Will he struggles as an opponent of Juventus — and Max Allegri particularly — the identical manner he did at Napoli? Will Allegri’s second stint be as profitable as his first? By this level this recreation is performed, we’ll have a fairly good sense of all of these, and it could possibly be a decisive day on a variety of ranges — in addition to probably the most intriguing matches of the season.
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