Another week, another round of Serie A fixtures is done and dusted. Plenty of talking points from the ten fixtures that took place all over Italy, including Juve's best ever start to a campaign, Chievo's never ending misery, Inter's fearsome defense, and more.
Without further ado, let's get into the five most notable talking points of matchday 11.
Inter's mean defense
Since losing to Parma back in September, Inter have really gone from strength to strength. The Nerazzurri thrashed Genoa 5-0 at the weekend, making it a seventh straight win, which has helped them climb to second in the table and move ahead of Napoli on goal difference. Although they are still six points behind Juventus, Luciano Spalletti's side have been really impressive on one front: defense.
Usually, it's Juve who have the bragging rights when it comes to defense, but impressively, this season so far, Inter have been really rock solid defensively. And in fact, no other side can compare not just in Serie A, but even across Europe's "Big 5" leagues, save for, of course, Atletico Madrid:
6 - Among teams with at least 11 games played in the top-5 european leagues 2018/19, @Inter have conceded the fewest goals (six, alongside Atlético Madrid). Amala.#InterGenoa
— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) November 3, 2018
Juve's historic start
Juve continue to cruise along, six points clear of the chasing pack and despite Massimiliano Allegri publicly stating that his team do expect to be challenged fully for the Scudetto, they certainly do not look like it. 11 rounds have passed, and the race does seem to be pretty much decided already, although the Bianconeri naturally will not be taking anything for granted, naturally.
After stumbling to a 1-1 draw with Genoa, La Vecchia Signora rebounded with a 3-1 win over Cagliari in Turin this past weekend. It certainly was a more convincing performance than their 2-1 result against Empoli, where they needed a brace from Cristiano Ronaldo to bail them out after falling 1-0 behind, but it did mark the third straight game in which they conceded a goal. Nonetheless, the win means that Juventus are off to their best ever start. Literally.
31 - This is Juventus' best start in a single Serie A season after the opening 11 games played: 10 wins and a draw. Martians. #JuventusCagliari
— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) November 3, 2018
Can things possibly get any worse for Chievo?
-1 points after 11 games. 0 wins. Eight goals scored. 28 conceded. They have managed to avoid the drop for the past few seasons despite some pretty bad performances, but Chievo's luck has finally run out. Ironically, their points deduction was due to some dodgy accounting to keep them in Serie A, and now unfortunately the Flying Donkeys have been grounded. Sitting in 20th place, the club opted to fire Lorenzo D'Anna and bring in Gian Piero Ventura, and things have not gotten any better.
In fact, as this stat shows, they have only gotten worse:
2 - Chievo fired only 2 shots in the first half of the 3 games under #Ventura (0-2-0), they have fired 5 shots on average in the first half of the previous 8 games this season. Difficulty. #ChievoSassuolo
— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) November 4, 2018
Ventura, as many Italian football fans will remember, was the coach who failed to guide the Azzurri to their first World Cup since 1958. Will things improve for struggling Chievo? Time will only tell.
Need someone to stop a penalty? Ask Salvatore Sirigu
Ligue 1 fans certainly will be well acquainted with Salvatore Sirigu from his time with PSG, where he won the Ligue 1 Goalkeeper of the Year prize twice, and now Torino followers will be quite appreciative having him in between the posts after enduring quite a bit of frustration a couple seasons ago with Joe Hart.
Why? Well, this year alone, Sirigu has proven to be a reliable set of hands when it comes to stopping spot-kicks, and that has helped to be the saving grace for the Granata on more than one occasion:
4 - Salvatore #Sirigu saved 4 penalties (out of 5) since the start of 2018 in Serie A, no top-5 European League goalkeeper saved more penalties in this period. Saviour. #SampdoriaTorino
— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) November 4, 2018
DID YOU KNOW?
98 - Dries #Mertens (98 goals), with this hat-trick has overcome both Jose Altafini (97 goals) and Careca (96), becoming the sixth best scorer of Napoli in all competitions. Milestone.#NapoliEmpoli
— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) November 2, 2018
Current rankings after matchday 11
Here is how things look in the table after 11 rounds of action.
Pos. | Tim | MN | M | S | K | MG | KG | SG | P | Keterangan | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Internazionale | 35 | 28 | 5 | 2 | 81 | 19 | +62 | 89 | KMMSM | |
2 | Milan | 35 | 21 | 8 | 6 | 67 | 42 | +25 | 71 | SSKSM | |
3 | Juventus | 35 | 18 | 12 | 5 | 48 | 27 | +21 | 66 | SSSSM | |
4 | Bologna | 35 | 17 | 13 | 5 | 49 | 27 | +22 | 64 | SSMSS | |
5 | Roma | 35 | 17 | 9 | 9 | 62 | 42 | +20 | 60 | SSMKM | |
6 | Atalanta | 33 | 17 | 6 | 10 | 61 | 37 | +24 | 57 | MMSKM | |
7 | Lazio | 35 | 17 | 5 | 13 | 45 | 37 | +8 | 56 | SMMMK | |
8 | Fiorentina | 34 | 14 | 8 | 12 | 51 | 39 | +12 | 50 | KMMSK | |
9 | Napoli | 34 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 52 | 43 | +9 | 50 | SKSMK | |
10 | Torino | 35 | 11 | 14 | 10 | 31 | 31 | 0 | 47 | SKSSK | |
11 | Monza | 35 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 38 | 46 | -8 | 45 | SSKSK | |
12 | Genoa | 35 | 10 | 13 | 12 | 41 | 43 | -2 | 43 | SMKSM | |
13 | Lecce | 35 | 8 | 13 | 14 | 32 | 50 | -18 | 37 | SSMMK | |
14 | Hellas Verona | 35 | 8 | 10 | 17 | 33 | 46 | -13 | 34 | MKMSK | |
15 | Cagliari | 35 | 7 | 12 | 16 | 37 | 60 | -23 | 33 | SKSSM | |
16 | Frosinone | 35 | 7 | 11 | 17 | 43 | 63 | -20 | 32 | SMSSS | |
17 | Empoli | 35 | 8 | 8 | 19 | 26 | 50 | -24 | 32 | SKMKM | |
18 | Udinese | 34 | 4 | 17 | 13 | 32 | 51 | -19 | 29 | SKKKS | |
19 | Sassuolo | 35 | 7 | 8 | 20 | 41 | 70 | -29 | 29 | MKKSS | |
20 | Salernitana | 34 | 2 | 9 | 23 | 26 | 73 | -47 | 15 | KKKSK |