The Tops and Flops of Serie A Round 8: Juventus, Napoli & Milan Duo Revive ‘Corto Muso’ | OneFootball

Unfortunately for those of us who enjoy cheeky one-liners and flying jackets, Massimiliano Allegri remains unemployed. Yet, you wouldn’t tell it by the displays we’ve seen from the big boys all weekend, as the Top Four (Napoli, Inter, Juventus and Milan) all registered 1-0 wins on the back of less-than-convincing performances – the sort of corto muso outings that the Livorno native would have been proud of. So admittedly, this wasn’t the most captivating Serie A weekend, but it still left us with several talking points and a host of heroes and villains. So let’s recap the most significant actions from Serie A Round 8 while shedding some light on the weekend’s Tops and Flops.

Top (Player): Danilo Cataldi

While his Fiorentina teammate Andrea Colpani would have been an equally deserving choice, Danilo Cataldi gets the nod partially due to his compelling story. The lifelong Lazio supporter was pushed out of his beloved club this summer following a captaincy row and eventually sealed a move to Florence on deadline day. Still, few of us expected him to have such a massive impact on Raffaele Palladino’s side.

The 30-year-old immediately established himself as a pillar in Florence, and has now grabbed the limelight with a brilliant display in the 6-0 dismantling of Lecce. The midfielder broke the deadlock with a long-range effort, and then added the third with a wonderful freekick.

While his teammates enjoyed a feast for crows in the second half, Cataldi was the one who orchestrated the historic result with a memorable brace and a superb showing in the middle of the park that perhaps included a subtle message to his previous employers.

Flop (Player): Tijjani Reijnders, Alessio Romagnoli & Antonino Gallo

Three players, one blunder. Milan midfielder Tijjani Reinders, Lazio centre-back Alessio Romagnoli and Lecce left-back Antonino Gallo all saw red for committing a foul while being the last defender. And to make matters even worse, all three incidents ensued in the first half, leaving teams with a numerical disadvantage for the majority of the contest. And unfortunately for them, these dismissals are inescapable in the VAR era.

While Reijnders was lucky enough in the sense that Milan somehow managed to preserve their lead against Udinese, Romagnoli emerged as the main culprit in Lazio’s defeat to Juventus, while Gallo doomed Lecce to a historic 0-6 defeat at home.

Top (Manager): Antonio Conte

Although his team underwhelmed this weekend, Antonio Conte still deserves the plaudits for the way he navigated Napoli’s away encounter against Empoli.

The 55-year-old was willing to drop his top striker Romelu Lukaku in favor of Giovanni Simeone when he noted that the Belgian giant wasn’t at his best. He also hauled off Khicha Kvaratskhelia, even if the latter scored the winner from the spot, replacing him with David Neres.

This is the sort of character and courage that is at times rewarded with trophies at the end of the season.

Flop (Manager): Luca Gotti

In the wake of a shocking 0-6 defeat at the hands of Fiorentina, the only good news for Luca Gotti is that he still has a job as Lecce decided to keep faith in the manager who guided them towards survival last term.

Nevertheless, the former Udinese coach simply lost his way on Sunday, failing to find any means to halt his team’s collapse and save face by limiting the damage.

It will be interesting to see how the Giallorossi will react in the coming weeks.

Top (Team): Fiorentina

Despite Albert Gudmundsson’s early injury, Fiorentina ran wild at the Via del Mare. After a slow start to the season, the team is growing with every passing week under the guidance of Palladino whose ideas are finally beginning to take shape, even when he’s serving a touchline ban.

The best thing about the Viola is how they don’t rely on a single player, but rather emphasize the importance of the collective.

Flop (Team): Lecce

As mentioned above, Lecce simply lost their way in front of their puzzled home supporters. The Southerners were already 0-2 down when Gallo received his marching orders, and the following freekick yielded the third Fiorentina goal.

But even then, one would have expected them to drop back and try to keep the scoreline as low as possible, but they instead shipped in another three goals in the second period to round up a miserable day for the Apulians.

Top (Goalkeeper): Mile Svilar

Since usurping Rui Patricio last season, Mile Svilar has been consistently proving himself as one the most reliable goalkeepers in Serie A, and he did so once more on Sunday night, even though it wasn’t enough to earn any points for the Giallorossi.

The Roma goalkeeper could do nothing against Lautaro Martinez’s riffling shot, but he managed to thwart the Inter players on a host of occasions before and after the goal, including some jaw-dropping stops on Marcus Thuram and Denzel Dumfries.

Flop (Goalkeeper): Federico Ravaglia

Perhaps the Bologna shot-stopper wasn’t truly the culprit on either of Andrea Pinamonti’s strikes, but he was left stranded on both occasions, and some would argue a more determined goalkeeper would have stood a chance.

The 24-year-old would have to deliver more convincing displays if he plans to keep the more experienced Lukasz Skorupski on the bench.

Top (Super-Sub): José Luis Palomino

When the Argentine replaced Yerry Mina at the back, Cagliari were trailing by two goals to one. Nevertheless, the former Atalanta defender nodded the equalizer home with an excellent header that shifted the momentum in the favor of the Sardinians who snatched the winner (from an own-goal) four minutes later to seal their first win at home this season.

Top (Match): Cagliari vs Torino

When Cagliari are in action, you always get your money’s worth. Win, lose or draw, the Sardinians always put up a real show filled with twists and turns, and this one wasn’t any different.

The Isolani took an early lead thanks to Nicolas Viola’s freekick, but Torino turned the match upside-down through a clinical Tony Sanabria header and an astonishing powershot from Karol Linetty.

And yet, Cagliari pulled off another comeback as Saul Coco’s luck betrayed him when he directed the ball into his own net while trying to anticipate a pass.

Flop (Match): Juventus vs Lazio

Just like the previous entry, this contest was settled by a late own-goal. But unlike Cagliari-Torino, this one didn’t witness four goals beforehand. Instead, what was supposed to be an entertaining clash between two clubs who enjoy playing attacking football turned out to be a dull affair, partially ruined by an early red card.

Romagnoli’s dismissal forced Lazio to defend with every remaining man on the pitch, pouncing on Juve’s increasingly evident struggles to create play in tight spaces.

Thiago Motta’s men eventually rode their luck to avert an embarrassing draw, while the neutrals were deprived of what could have been an exciting affair.

Top (Assist): Aaron Caricol

Pinamonti emerged as the ultimate hero for Genoa after bagging a superb brace that salvaged a valuable point for the Ligurians against Bologna, but Aaron Caricol deserves some of the credit for an astonishing freekick delivery that found the Italian striker’s head with both power and precision.

Top (Goal): Ange-Yoan Bonny

Despite the lack of excitement in the biggest weekend clashes, this round still had its fair share of sublime strikes, including Mateo Retegui’s fabulous chip, Lautaro’s smashing shot and Linetty’s scorcher.

Yet, Ange-Yoan Bonny’s neat backheel gets the nod, as you don’t see this sort of technique succeed every day. With his back against the goal, the 20-year-old Parma striker had the awareness to coolly slot the ball past both his marker and the Como goalkeeper with a genius touch.