Following another exciting round of games in Serie A, Dave Taylor selects his best XI from Week 15.
Pepe Reina [Napoli]
After some lackadaisical showings recently, the real Pepe Reina stood up to the plate and made several important saves including blocking a dangerous Mauro Icardi strike, following Raul Albiol’s mistake. However, his best was a fantastic one-handed stop from Andrea Candreva. Comprehensive.
Matias Silvestre [Sampdoria]
Following another exciting round of games in Serie A, Dave Taylor selects his best XI from Week 15.
Pepe Reina [Napoli]
After some lackadaisical showings recently, the real Pepe Reina stood up to the plate and made several important saves including blocking a dangerous Mauro Icardi strike, following Raul Albiol’s mistake. However, his best was a fantastic one-handed stop from Andrea Candreva. Comprehensive.
Matias Silvestre [Sampdoria]
The Argentinian veteran brought a reassuring presence to Samp’s defence and showed for the ball when needed. Dictated the flow of the game from deep and withstood Torino’s pressure throughout. Solid.
Daniel Rugani [Juventus]
Had the visiting forwards on lock down from the beginning. Always willing to put his foot in never shied a tackle and was rewarded when scoring his second goal of the season with a bullet header. Commanding.
Alex Sandro [Juventus]
Owned his flank, neutralised any attacking threat and was a constant thorn in Atalanta’s defence. It was from one of his solo runs that he scored the opener, when after speeding into the area he slotted home at the near post. Motivated.
Piotr Zielinski [Napoli]
The Polish ace was on the ball immediately dispatching the opener after just two minutes with a low volley from 12 yards. Continued to give Inter headaches down the right and four minutes after his strike he set up Marek Hamsik’s goal with a sublime pass. Inspirational.
Miralem Pjanic [Juventus]
Seemed to be everywhere and controlled the game from the midfield. All Juve’s best play went through him with his elegant control on the ball and he was as impressive as ever. One of Juve’s best players. Intelligent.
Marek Hamsik [Napoli]
Once again showed his importance and played a major part in the opener before he scored his 104th Napoli goal with a guided angled drive past Samir Handanovic. Always ready to set up attacks he hardly misplaced a single ball. Significant.
Radja Nainggolan [Roma]
The Belgian took a while to warm up but started causing problems for Lazio early in the second half. With Lazio down field his intuition on the counter attack served Roma well and his wayward shot from 25 yards somehow beat the ‘keeper. Nuisance.
Edgar Barreto [Sampdoria]
Apart from his goal he showed his quality and brought a solid feel to the midfield, attacking the Torino players with confidence while unyielding in his tackles. For his goal he controlled a corner with one touch, spun round and let fly from six yards. Steadfast.
Federico Ricci [Sassuolo]
Stood up when it counted and coolly converted a penalty and played his part in the third goal. Running into space his cross saw goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski panic and push the ball into Antonino Ragusa’s path who slipped the ball home. Cool.
Mario Mandzukic [Juventus]
Always looking for the ball and caused no end of problems for the visiting defence while he also scored the third goal with a dynamic header from a corner. The big striker also earned his corn in defence as well, double blocking two strikes on target. Vibrant.
Special mentions: Kalidou Koulibaly [Napoli], Edgar Barreto [Sampdoria], Lorenzo Pellegrini [Sassuolo], Samir [Udinese], Gabriel Paletta [Milan]