Portugal want Mourinho
With only eight wins in their first 15 games of the season, Roma face a battle to improve their form in the second half of the Serie A season. They host Bologna in the first game back after the break, before facing Milan at San Siro just four days later.
They could certainly do with finding some more goals from somewhere, as striker Tammy Abraham has only netted three times in over 1,000 minutes of football so far this campaign, and that’s as many goals as defender Chris Smalling has contributed over that same period.
Andrea Belotti is yet to get firing, although star number 10 Paulo Dybala should be ready for action after his World Cup win with Argentina.
Yet that’s not the main issue that the Giallorossi face this winter, as boss José Mourinho is reportedly being lined up as the new Portugal boss after Fernando Santos stepped down after their World Cup exit.
Friday’s edition of La Repubblica also suggested that Brazil have Mourinho on their shortlist after Tite’s exit, as it looks like the man nicknamed ‘The Special One’ is very much in demand.
“Mourinho is a great coach, everyone wants him,” Tammy Abraham told reporters after a 3-0 friendly win over Waalwijk this week.
“It is also an honor that an important national team like the Portuguese one is looking for him, but I am sure the coach is focused on our team.”
Of course, these are just rumors now, but it does seem like the Portuguese boss has a big decision to make.
Napoli’s mid-season struggle
Napoli ended the first half of the season as one of the strongest sides in Europe with 13 wins and two draws from their opening 15 domestic fixtures and five wins from six games in the Champions League group stage.
Yet their mid-season friendlies haven’t quite gone to plan as Luciano Spalletti’s side lost 3-2 to Villarreal before an embarrassing 4-1 home defeat to French side LOSC on December 21st.
“There are things we should do better, but we tried to take the same attitude and you can see right now we need to work on our fitness,” Spalletti admitted following that defeat.
“When you decide to play open and attacking football, to press the opponents high and keep your defensive line in midfield, if you don’t do the pressing accurately, it all becomes very difficult.
“If the passes are intercepted halfway for counter-attacks, it’s too dangerous. We conceded a couple of goals that we really should not be conceding, but that’s all part of the process.”
We’ll see whether or not that’s something to worry about when Napoli face Inter in the first game back after the break.
Giroud ready to play
Olivier Giroud was one of the players who went all the way to the World Cup final this winter, but Gazzetta dello Sport reports that the Frenchman won’t be asking for an extended break to compensate.
The 36-year-old was instrumental for Les Bleus as he fired in four goals in six games on the way to the final, putting himself in the conversation for one of the best players in the entire tournament.
That won’t affect his desire to help his club retain the Serie A title in the second half of the campaign though, as the report suggests that Giroud wants to play in Milan’s first match away at Salernitana on January 4th.
Rossoneri boss Stefano Pioli will be ready to welcome his number nine with open arms as Giroud has already contributed with five goals and three assists in nine Serie A starts in 2022/23.
Juve’s problems continue
As reported in this previous column, Juventus are facing a whole world of trouble off the pitch as the entire board of directors resigned pending an investigation into stock market manipulation.
This week, those problems worsened as the Italian Football Association (FIGC) was able to reopen a previously closed case in which Juve was accused of falsely inflating transfer fees for bookkeeping purposes.
As player values are often subjective, it had already been declared impossible to successfully prove that they had been manipulated, and the case was closed. Yet wiretaps set up by the Turin Prosecutor’s Office are said to have uncovered recordings in which former Sporting Director Fabio Paratici discusses the altered values.
The FIGC has decided that this is enough to reopen their case, and by association will implicate clubs that did business with Juventus in Pescara, Sampdoria, Genoa, Parma, Pisa, Empoli, Pro Vercelli, and Novara.
Inter counting on Lukaku
Romelu Lukaku’s second stint at Inter has been a false dawn for the Nerazzurri so far, the striker having missed 16 games this season through injury.
The 29-year-old was brought on in the latter stages of Belgium’s defeat to Morocco in the World Cup and missed a number of big chances to put his side back in contention, but it was clear that he was still lacking match sharpness at that point.
Now back at his club, Lukaku has seemingly found his shooting boots once again, netting in a 2-0 friendly win over Reggina along with fellow striker Edin Džeko.
Boss Simone Inzaghi will welcome his return to the side, especially as Inter face a tough test versus Napoli in their first game back after the World Cup break.
The Nerazzurri are 11 points behind the Serie A leaders, and sit equal on points with fourth-placed Lazio as the competition hots up to secure a place in next season’s Champions League.
Chloe Beresford
Chloe Beresford is an experienced Serie A expert, with previous bylines at Forbes, The Guardian, AS Roma and many more. She has appeared on the radio at Sirius XFM and on the BBC Euro Leagues podcast. Watching live games in Italy and experiencing all the country has to offer are her biggest passions.