And here we are again at the time of judgments. The end of the year leads us to give the first marks to the big names in our football, albeit with the awareness that they could change, for the better but also for the worse, in a few months. However, five months are more than enough to make judgments, especially since some verdicts have already been issued, some unappealable. So let's try to draw up a team-by-team balance, specifying however the rules of the game: the assessments are based on the current season, just as the football calendar dictates.
INTER 8
One vote less for elimination from the Champions League, but without that we would be facing perfection. Inter are the big winners of this first part of the season, as evidenced by their first place in the standings, albeit tied with Juve. Few could have imagined a journey like this: 42 points in 17 days, 13 wins, 3 draws and only one defeat, 14 goals conceded (best defense of the tournament). The protagonist of this is certainly Antonio Conte, decisive in both technical and market choices (see Lukaku). The coach confirms himself as a born winner, a sort of King Midas capable of turning everything he touches into gold, regardless of the myriad of injuries that have certainly complicated his path. But now comes the difficult part: winning in May, as Conte himself knows, is something else and requires an enormous number of factors. We don't know if this will happen, but in the meantime let's judge what we've seen so far, therefore an Inter ready to make a comeback.
LAZIO 7,5
The real surprise of the season. Someone could object by recalling the elimination from the Europa League, but we are convinced that the Biancoceleste squad could not have withstood the double commitment and, at the same time, obtained certain results. Let's remember them: third place in the standings with 36 points, 6 less than Inter and Juve but with one game to recover, plus a Super cup already on the bulletin board. If Lazio continue like this, they could even fight for the Scudetto, but qualification in the Champions League would be enough to confirm the excellent mark. At the beginning of the season, nobody thought that the Biancocelesti could reach that high, instead they are there and the very absence of European commitments could push them even higher. Congratulations to Inzaghi, who is now coach and done, but also to Lotito and Tare, the great builders of this really interesting car, costing infinitely less than others that have been behind it for years now.
Juventus 7
Good but not great. Juventus are first in the standings together with Inter and have passed the group of Champions without problems, therefore no one can take away a good mark from them, yet in their journey so far there is something that is not convincing and goes far beyond the Super Cup loss. If anything, the match in Riyadh reaffirmed the problems of a team that struggles to get in tune with the new coach, so much so that they lose for the second consecutive time, moreover in almost identical ways, with the same opponent. Now, woe to forget the good things done by Sarri, God forbid: the 42 points in the standings, the almost perfect path in the Champions League, the reconstruction of Higuain and Dybala are facts and nobody wants to deny them. However, the feeling is that his Juve is much more fragile than those of Conte and Allegri, a fact also underlined by some senators, evidently worried by too many goals conceded. The project of winning by playing well is ambitious and deserves trust, provided however that we don't forget what is the true priority of the Juventus club. Otherwise in May, for the first time in 8 years, someone else could celebrate…
ROME 6,5
A nice surprise, even if not quite successful yet. Roma are competitive again, there's no doubt about that, and indeed they closed 2019 on a crescendo, both on and off the pitch. Now, waiting to see what will happen on the corporate front, it's time to think about its technical prospects, because with the new workforce it has the duty to raise the bar and try to win something, just like the Lazio cousins. It must be said that the path taken seems to be the right one, because if we take away the first two games in August, the Giallorossi have a Scudetto-worthy average, as well as a very solid defence. Merit of Fonseca, intelligent in adapting almost immediately to Italian football, but also of Petrachi, author of an excellent market both in purchases and in the management of various internal cases, all promptly returned. Now all that remains is to carry on like this, possibly without underestimating the Europa League and Coppa Italia, within reach trophies that would give joy and satisfaction to the fans. The definitive step to become great, after all, is above all mental and Roma know they have to grow above all there.
NAPOLI 5
And here we are at the negative notes. Napoli has been insufficient up to now and only the qualification for the round of 18 of the Champions League stops us from treading our hand even more. But the passage of the round, moreover in a non-irresistible group, certainly cannot save him from rejection, certified instead by a championship which, for the first time since time immemorial, sees him outside Europe. A disaster paid for above all by Ancelotti, who however cannot pass as the only culprit. De Laurentiis and the players also have their responsibilities, as can be seen from the tragicomic story of his retirement, which went down in history as one of the biggest mutinies in our football. In all of this, the hot potato went to Gattuso, called to raise the standings and play his cards in the Champions League and the Italian Cup. Not an easy mission, because Napoli in this first part of the season seemed to be running out of head even before their legs, so much so that they ended the year in eighth place, XNUMX points behind Inter and Juve. The market and Gattuso will try to lend a hand but the road appears to be uphill…
MILAN 4
Where do we start? Commenting on Milan in this 2019/20 season is difficult, if only because the gaps are so many that they overlap one another. We could start from a wrong market, or from a coach sent away (Gattuso) by virtue of someone who had to "play football with his head held high" (Giampaolo), and who instead ended up finding himself sacked in early October, or from an undefined corporate strategy, born in the name of young people and then find themselves praying to the 38-year-old Ibra. The truth is that everything makes soup and that there is no fault bigger than another: Milan are on their knees for many reasons and don't seem to know how to get back up. The defeat in Bergamo eliminated any form of optimism for what seemed like a (slow) recovery, but above all put the spotlight back on the Maldini-Boban couple, guilty of having spent more than 100 million for an eleventh place in the standings, light years away from the Champions League. Now Ibra has arrived and everyone expects him to make the difference almost by himself: possible, of course, but also difficult. Because miracles, despite the huge ego and a certain tendency to omnipotence, not even he can do them.
