Week 2 in is in the books! Inter are still good. Juve is REALLY GOOD. Milan stink. Roma might be worse? Napoli…? Jury is still out!Â
Without further adieu it’s time to WHIP…IT…A-ROOOOOOUUUUUUND!Â
Matchups
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VENEZIA V TORINO Venezia are slow out of the gate but not winless. That’s important for a team everyone is predicting to finish last. It doesn’t help that it appears Bjarkason and Busio will likely miss this game. Goals wil be scarce so sewing up the back is important. Torino come in red hot. They took Milan to the wire week one and then came home and humbled Atalanta. This is not your father’s Torino folks. Four goals in 2 games? It took Juric’s teams 10 games to do that. Zapata and Adams look like a legit duo up top. TORINO WINS
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INTER V ATALANTA First big showdown of the year! Inter took lean and mean with most of the team back and some shiny new pieces as well. Tahremi especially looks tasty. Atalanta meanwhile come in with a roster and starting lineup in flux. Lots of new pieces in and several pieces out, including Koopmeiners as of yesterday. Add to that some injuries and they’re far from complete. This early in the season the teams with a lot of returning pieces do best. Inter is that team. INTER WINS
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BOLOGNA V EMPOLI Empoli are in a 7 way tie for second after starting the season by drawing Monza and snatching a road win away to Roma. Empoli. Second place. Read that again. Ok now one more time. They are improved and will be a problem. Bologna is off to a slow start, but any team replacing their coach, best defender and leading scorer can expect that. I don’t think they’re in trouble though. Still lots of pieces in place. This is the perfect match to prove that. Orsolini (AGS) carries the load. Consider some Castro shots as well. BOLOGNA WINS
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LECCE V CAGLIARI Lecce have started a mess. No points and no goals through 2 games. They sold a LOT of assets this summer. Could be lean times. EDF was able to get Cagliari to 2 draws to start the year. Mind you his teams tend to start well and fade. Suffice it to say this game smells like a draw. Gotta be a draw. Maybe even bet the 0-0 and see how long you can wait before cashing early. That’s a good sweat. DRAW
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LAZIO V MILAN Tune in Saturday for our matchday post and some solid predictions! So far I’ve nailed a goal scorer in each of Milan’s first 2 games!
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NAPOLI V PARMA Ok, ok ok. I’m not totally in yet but I will go with the narrative that Conte turns the Maradona into a fortress. Any new coach needs to start by dominating at home. They did that last week in smashing Bologna. I think they do that again here. Kvara TSOA. Lukaku AGS if he starts FOR SURE. I think they give up one as well. BTTS and a Napoli win? Napoli win and over 2.5 maybe? Lots of ways to skin this cat but I think NAPOLI WINS
PS: Dennis Man has scored in each game. Nonno knows BALL.Â
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FIORENTINA V MONZA Fiorentina are my dark horse top 4 team. I’m not backing off on that. They have a lot of pieces so it might take Palladino some time to figure it out but they will get there. Right now it’s defense first in the league which is smart. Monza has 0 goals. They might just stink. Or Nesta is just taking his time as well. Low scoring affair here. Wanna be bold? Take Fiorentina and under. Less bold? Fiorentina DC and under. I’ll say 1-0 FIORENTINA WINS
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GENOA V HELLAS Could Genoa be a sneaky European contender? My crystal ball says yes. Gilardino is doing good work. Pinamonti is a sneaky good signing of a veteran scorer. Hellas snuck up on Napoli. They won’t sneak up on many. They always tend to struggle early. Perfect bait for Genoa at home. Gilardino’s men make it 7 from 9 as GENOA WINS
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JUVENTUS V ROMA Two things I predicted here: Juve red hot start and DeRossi floundering. Let’s keep it simple folks. Vlahovic scores again as JUVE WINS!
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UDINESE V COMO I don’t know how Como drew 3 straight road games to start the year (stadium issues maybe?), but that’s brutal for a newly promoted team. Udinese has some nice pieces, they just don’t always gel. Lucca and Thauvin both scored last week and played great. More of that and they won’t be in a relegation battle. Less of that and they are a mess. Okoye and Bijol keep things clean. Perhaps Lucca scores again? UDINESE WINS
Final Thoughts
Enjoy the Calcio!
Lisi
PS: If you enjoy making a few bets the KICKS and PICKS PODCAST is a must listen. They touch on a lot of Serie A action but also have their eyes on other leagues across Europe. Fun show with excellent insight. Great for anyone new to the betting scene. Enjoy