Senin, 01 Februari 2016

Serie A Team of the Week: Matchday 22

Here is Italian Football Daily’s Serie A Team of the week for Round 22

3-5-2:

Goalkeeper:

Pierluigi Gollini (Hellas Verona): Verona’s 20-year-old goalkeeper secured the Gialloblu their 11th draw of the season with a succession of saves to stop Torino from scoring. In a season where Verona are yet to record their first league victory after 22 match days, their young goalkeeper has been one of the few bright sparks in recent weeks.

 

Defenders:

Wesley Hoedt (Lazio): For the entire season there has been a Stefan De Vrij-sized hole in the Lazio defence and Wesley Hoedt has occasionally been exposed, but this weekend at Udinese the Dutch defender really stood up. Despite Milan Biševac having to go off injured, Hoedt’s performance meant that Udinese were unable to force their way through a patched-up Lazio defence.

Alex (AC Milan): The tifo used by the Milan fans before the Derby della Madonnina on Sunday showed Mark Hateley’s towering header over Fulvio Collovati in the 1984 derby, and Alex opened the scoring with a similarly emphatic header. As the game progressed, the 33-year-old showed his experience and put out any fires that emerged in the defence. The one blot on his performance came when he fouled Mauro Icardi to give away a penalty at 1-0. Fortunately for him, Icardi’s penalty hit the post.

Alex Sandro (Juventus): The Brazilian left-back was deployed as a wing-back in Allegri’s line-up at Chievo and really flourished, scoring a goal and providing a constant threat down the left hand side. Patrice Evra still appears to be Allegri’s go-to guy for the big games, but Alex Sandro has consistently shown that he has all the capabilities to be Juve’s long-term answer at left-back/left wing-back.

 

Midfielders:

Juraj Kucka (AC Milan): During the derby, the Slovak midfielder was a tireless runner as Milan soaked up Inter’s attacks and countered through Bonaventura, Honda, Niang and Bacca. Kucka’s running and tenaciousness allowed Milan to quickly transition from defence to attack, while he also allowed Montolivo to get on the ball and dictate the play.

Paul Pogba (Juventus): Paul Pogba has been in unbelievable form in the past two months and he was exceptional as Juventus made it 12 wins in a row by beating Chievo 4-0 away from home. Along with an assist and a goal, Pogba displayed arguably the touch of the season and that was followed by a shot that hit the bar; it would have been a goal that epitomised just how good the 22-year-old Frenchman really is.

Godfred Donsah (Bologna): Donsah returned to Roberto Donadoni’s line-up and made a good impression as he got an assist and a goal. He crossed for Anthony Mounier who opened the scoring, and then got Bologna’s second goal as they went into half-time 2-0 ahead against Sampdoria. Muriel and Correa equalised for Samp, but Mattia Destro’s late penalty gave Bologna all three points.

Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli): Napoli’s trequartista has had an excellent season and continued that form against manager Maurizio Sarri’s former club, Empoli. Insigne went on to grab an assist and score a beautiful free-kick as Napoli came back from 1-0 down to win 5-1 and retain their two-point lead at the top of Serie A.

José Callejón (Napoli): Callejón got his 8th and 9th goals of the season on Sunday, but was involved in three of Napoli’s five. After his cross set up Michele Camporese’s own goal to make it 3-1, Callejón then headed in the Partenopei’s fourth and made it 5-1 as he squeezed in a shot past Łukasz Skorupski.

 

Strikers:

M’Baye Niang (AC Milan): After rejecting a €16 million move to Leicester City in midweek, Niang bounced back with an excellent performance in the derby. His pressing from the front and inventive nature led to chances for the Rossoneri, and the Frenchman finished the game with an assist (a perfect cross for Carlos Bacca) and a goal – the third in Milan’s 3-0 rout over their city rivals.

Álvaro Morata (Juventus): Midweek in the Coppa Italia against Inter, Morata got his first goal since October and – after the news that Mario Mandžukić will be out for four weeks with a calf injury – he got another brace, this time against Chievo. His return to form will be key for Juventus, especially with Mandžukić ruled out of the first leg tie against Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

The post Serie A Team of the Week: Matchday 22 appeared first on IFD.



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