Opinion: Three Takeaways from Serie A Matchday 4

Now, four weeks is a very small amount of time, but this early data suggests that winning matches in calcio might just be more difficult than it has been before.

The clean sheets have returned

In week one, five teams kept a clean sheet. Matchday two saw just four. The decline continued on matchday three when a mere two of the 18 teams that played did (though Genoa-Fiorentina has since been rescheduled to December).

This past weekend, teams suddenly remembered how to defend, as seven teams did not concede a goal. And it wasn’t the usual suspects, either; out of the six teams on seven or more points, just one kept a clean sheet. Instead of the traditional top three in Roma, Napoli, and Juventus, it was the likes of Torino, Empoli, and Sassuolo that kept their opponents from scoring.

Though one week is far too little to demonstrate a trend, this newfound defensive resilience may just point to teams starting to gel at the back after a summer where many sides made defensive transfers.

Tight games. Tight games everywhere

Roma’s narrow 1-0 loss away to Fiorentina was one of many matches that were decided by the smallest of margins. Inter beat Juventus by one goal, as did Chievo over Udinese, and Milan over Sampdoria.

One match was even tighter than that: the league saw its first 0-0 of the season in Torino’s home draw against Empoli. No team scored more than three and no match featured at least five goals in it, both for the first time this season.

This relative profligacy may be attributable to defenses truly starting to gel – or maybe it’s the red hot offenses from the earlier weeks finally cooling off. Either way, Serie A matches this weekend were close-knit, hard-fought affairs.

He who wins away may prove the most victorious

The trend of the unbeatable home team continued over the weekend; 10 matches, 10 away sides, and only three walked away with any points at all – and just two of those were victories. That’s fewer than ever in this young season, which had three sides win away from home in each of the previous three weeks.

What does it all mean?

The evidence suggests Serie A, at least on the basis of Matchday 4, is becoming ever-so-slightly more competitive. Roma were one of two of the top three sides from last season to lose this weekend, along with Juventus, and just three points separates Napoli in first from Inter in sixth.

In fact, just six points separate the pinnacle of the table from the last spot above the drop, while every team that’s played four matches is averaging a goal conceded per match. Early weeks suggests that the team that can first figure out how to keep clean sheets away from home will have a massive advantage over the rest of the league, but that might be easier said than done with six teams already featuring players that have at least four goals.