Italian Serie A Match Analysis

AC Milan vs Sampdoria
Think Sampdoria of ISA and think Everton of EPL. If you have been a crazed futbol fan, you should know what I mean. Both teams are the surprised package of their respective league, in line for Champions League next season. Whereas Everton had always been perenial relegation battlers, Sampdoria had seen far worst for the past ten years. Relegation and financial crisis, now they are back. Hanging onto the fourth position based on goal differences after Inter gain a point(lost 2 points) last night. They are performing pretty well, which is why the bookmakers are letting Sampdoria a one ball advantage for this match as Asian Handicap. They're probably warrant at least one-half ball last season. My personal view is that Sampdoria needs a break, I do not see them having the stability to hold on to their CL dreams, Palermo/Udinese seems more like it. But I'll talk about that later.

But back to reality, AC Milan on 2nd place has got 60 points, behind Jtus on pure goal differences. Sampdoria has got 47 points. 13 points is quite a gulf here and I think it speaks volume on the class of Jtus and AC Milan's performances this season. While its true that early this month, Sampdoria won away in Juventus, but whoever watching the game would have seen that its more of a case in Jtus slipping themselves. Looking at the way AC Milan play on San Siro, it would take a very optimestic punter to even think of gaining anything against them. They attack for 90 minutes, sound possession and good finishing. Ignore Crespo's fine scoring form, the thing about AC Milan is that any player can score.

Look at the following possible starting line-up as suggested from Goal.com.

Milan (4-3-1-2):
Dida; Stam, Nesta, Maldini, Pancaro; Gattuso, Pirlo, Seedorf; Kaka; Tomasson, Crespo

Sampdoria (4-4-2):
Antonioli; Zenoni, Pavan, Falcone, Pisano; Diana, Palombo, Volpi, Tonetto; Flachi, Kutuzov

I also expect AC Milan to be given a boast after their double win over Manchester Utd in the Champions League. Don't listen to speculations of fatigue cries. They are not playing up to 3 or more matches a week.

Whether you want to sit through the game and enjoy watching your team attack 90 minutes or to side the team that is trying to hold onto a draw. Its going to be your choice.

Palermo vs Udinese
This is a dog fight. Crucial game as both teams are fighting shoulder-to-shoulder on the way up. Palermo is leading by one point and franky speaking though, a victory by Palermo will not knock-out Udinese. It will only be 4 points, the season is still long.

Looking at stats so far, Palermo has scored 16 conceded 7 at home, Udinese scored 17 but conceded 17 away. That speaks volume about Palermo's home defence. Only Jtus has conceded as little goals at home at 7 goals. At the highest level, the secret to a good performance, is defence. Look at Chelsea, Barcelona, Juventus, AC Milan, Man Utd(all positive examples) and Real Madrid(negative example). With this kind of defence, Palermo can go far. They also normally play 4-4-1-1. Focus is on defence, hence as you can see, they are playing to their strategy and getting the desired results, its not based on luck.

On the other side, Udinese is not doing too badly. 17 goals and 17 conceded away simply means they are nil on goal difference. Every other team below Udinese is negative on away goal differences. This will be a tight affair. And a draw is highly likely.

Whichever team score first, should take the game. For this, I back home ground.

Atalanta vs Parma

I saw this on Goal.com. It saves me a lot of typing.

FORM GUIDE
Atalanta (Serie A – oldest result first): LLWLWDL
Atalanta’s results have been of a positive nature in comparison to their form before Christmas and many of the defeats suffered recently were undeserved.

Parma (Serie A – oldest result first): WLDLWLW
Parma generally have been picking up the right results in important matches, their recent losses have been against some of the most on form teams in the league.

But me thinks, its more of a draw game. Nevertheless, backing home on Asian Handicap is definitely a good choice.

Boxing Joe Picks...
AC Milan -1
Palermo -1/4
Atalanta Lvl