Opinion: Four takeaways from Serie A’s Matchday 1

Roma’s league ambition is clear and simple, as laid out repeatedly by the club, from president Jim Pallotta down to the staff and players: worry about ourselves and go all out to win every game.

With Serie A finally returning this weekend, we got our first glimpse at who could be the contenders, the pretenders and the best of the rest…

1. Some teams are who we thought they were…

Yes, Juventus won against Fiorentina, perhaps unsurprisingly so, thanks to a game winner from Gonzalo Higuain – what else is new, right? The manner in which they won, however, with some poor defending that allowed Nikola Kalinic to power a header home, suggests some settling in time is needed for last season’s champions. It was also perhaps unsurprising to see a strong Sassuolo side defeat newly-promoted Palermo, or Genoa notch a solid win over Cagliari.

2. …But some teams experienced shock results

Good luck to anyone who draws too many conclusions from Day 1 because there were surprises and upsets abound. Napoli shockingly went down 2-0 to Pescara before clawing a draw back; one of the more intriguining league storylines will be seeing how Maurizio Sarri’s men can replace Higuain’s goals and influence up front.

Vincenzo Montella’s Milan were 3-1 up against Torino with 30 minutes left to play thanks to Carlos Bacca - but needed last second heroics from Gianluigi Donnarumma to preserve the win in the final minute. Frank de Boer’s Inter, meanwhile, certainly need more time to learn the coach’s tactics and ways, as he noted after the match, following a shock opening day defeat to Chievo.

Milan, Inter, and Napoli all demonstrate the need for time for new recruits to settle in; all the more impressive, then, that Bruno Peres and Thomas Vermaelen did so well for Roma against Udinese.

3. This season may be built for attacking

That old cliché about Italian teams looking for narrow 1-0 leads and relying on their amazing defences? As of 22 August 2016, that couldn’t seem further from the truth. Exactly four other teams besides Roma recorded a clean sheet this weekend, and they’re definitely not the ones you’d expect: Sassuolo, Sampdoria, Chievo, and Bologna. The league’s tightest three defences from last season – Juve, Napoli, and Inter – all conceded on opening day. Roma’s clean sheet thus bodes quite well, especially considering the new faces at the back.

4. Serie A is a second-half kind of league

32 goals were scored in 10 games on Matchday 1 - further diminishing the idea that this is a defensive-oriented league. And yet, only nine of those were scored in the first-half – a measly 28%. That suggests that Roma’s second-half deluge against Udinese was far from an aberration; calcio so far has been an affair to watch the entire way through, lest you risk a late red card (there were three after the 84th minute this week) or goal - a stunning eight after the 80th minute!

What does all of this mean for Roma?

It bodes rather well – the team were one of the few sides in the upper echelons of the table to win what seemed to be a very winnable game and keep a clean sheet - all while keeping with the trend of coming out firing on all cylinders in the second half. No one scored more goals than Roma on Matchday 1.

Lazio matched them, but conceded three in the process, giving Luciano Spalletti’s men the best goal difference in the league after one day.

And while it’s still incredibly early days – as early as can be, actually – there’s plenty of reason for optimism ahead of Tuesday’s massive clash against Porto.