Opinion: Four takeaways from Serie A Matchday 2

If Matchday 1 in Serie A was chaotic and unpredictable, then Matchday 2 was a return to expectation for a number of sides in the league.

The usual suspects went back to performing, well, usually

Last season’s top five in the table were Juventus, Napoli, Roma, Inter and Fiorentina. On Matchday 1, those five sides could barely have been more erratic: earning two losses, a draw, and two wins. This weekend, however, they experienced three wins, two draws, and no defeats – a notable improvement.

Those five are, by and large, the teams that should settle right at the top of the table when the games start to hit double figures and the early-season dust begins to clear. That dust has not settled yet, though, leaving the table looking unsurprisingly messy. The leaders after two games - on goal difference - are Genoa, one of four perfect teams along with Juventus, Sassuolo, and Sampdoria.

Given that none of the sides sitting pretty with six points bar Max Allegri’s men have faced any team that finished higher than seventh last season, though, this is certainly likely to change sooner than later.

The goals just keep coming – at both ends

After two matches, a whopping seven teams currently have an average of two goals scored per game or more, and only four sides are averaging less than one goal conceded per game. This weekend followed suit from the first: no 0-0 draws (who says Serie A is a defensive league?!) and just one draw of any sort, as six of the ten league matches featured at least three goals.

The good news for Roma is that their two league goals conceded has the side in quite good shape overall, despite the disappointing manner in which it happened this weekend: rivals Napoli and Lazio have so far conceded double that – and AC Milan triple.

That second half trend is still holding true

The first weekend of the season saw a glut of important goals come in the second half of matches, and this past weekend a similar pattern emerged again. Nineteen out of the 32 league goals scored this weekend happened after the interval - and they were almost always the crucial ones.

Genoa and Juventus turned a half-time deficit and deadlock respectively into two wins after the break, while all of the action in Inter-Palermo came following half-time. Milan and Napoli, meanwhile, traded pairs of goals before Maurizio Sarri’s men wrapped up a 4-2 victory.

Few if any teams in the league have been able to rest on their first-half laurels throughout the entire game. This unfortunately proved to be true in Roma’s case, as well, as Cagliari’s pair of second half goals turned the home side’s loss into a draw.

Winning away is immensely difficult

Quickfire question: how many of the 10 away teams won this weekend?

Just two: Juventus and Genoa.

Roma, meanwhile, were one of just two other teams to get a point at all on their travels, with Palermo being the other. Home stadiums are currently proving to be fortresses in the league; on the opening day only two teams won away, and just one other managed a draw. All 20 Serie A teams have now played away and merely seven have any points to show for it.

What does this all mean for Roma?

From Roma’s perspective, then, the team now knows that the cream may slowly be rising to the top, and that defensive security is certainly a must for a league where conceding seems to be at least as likely as scoring.

Luckily for Spalletti’s men, after the international break is a home game. It is by no means an easy one, against high-flying Sampdoria, but the initial form table suggests that at this embryonic point in the campaign it is still far better to be playing at home than away.