Zenga cautious as Catania fly high

Some teams have taken the Serie A by storm this season and collected more points than anyone would have expected them to do at this early stage of the campaign. Napoli, Catania and Udinese figure prominently in this group.

Other teams, like Juventus and Roma, have started on a bad note and playing well below par. Consequently, they have a mountain to climb to get back in business.

Many reckon that Catania are the biggest surprise package of the 2008/09 Serie A though.

Walter Zenga's side are currently joint-second, level on points with Udinese and Napoli and just two points adrift of Inter, the in-form reigning champions.

Catania are not the type of team that play dazzling and open football. On the contrary, the Sicily outfit play cautiously all the way. So far, they scored eight times and conceded just four goals.

Catania have made of their own Angelo Massimino stadium a fortress and won all their opening four home fixtures... three identical 1-0 wins over Genoa, Atalanta and Chievo and Sunday's 2-0 derby victory over rivals Palermo.

Great credit for this flawless start to the season should be attributed to Zenga. The ex-Inter, Sampdoria and Italy goalkeeper is the man behind Catania's surge up the Serie A ladder. He took over towards the end of last season and steered the side to safety as relegation to the Serie B was looming large for the Sicilians after two years in the top flight.

Over the summer, despite a very restricted financial budget and with few additions of note, Zenga meticulously assembled a formidable squad capable of having their say and showing that the team will be no pushovers this season.

Catania's only blemish so far was the upset to Inter on the second day at the San Siro. The secret behind Catania's success is determined play, a solid defensive set-up and an efficient forward line that does not depend on any single striker.

In his comments after Sunday's derby, Zenga was very realistic.

He said he was more pleased with the 14 points Catania had under their belt rather than aspiring to challenge for a UEFA Cup berth.

Zenga could be right eventually because Juventus and Roma, for instance, are not expected to remain in the lower quarters of the table as the campaign develops. At least, that's what their fans had hoped for at the start of the season.

However, it is typical of Catania to start on a good note, as happened last year.

Also, it is worth mentioning that two years ago, they were very high up the standings until the end of the first round. However, in the end they only managed to stave off relegation on the very last day after a home win over Chievo.

So, Zenga is doing well to play down his side's achievements at this early stage. Many think he is acting wisely as it is too premature to decipher what role can his team play this season.

There's only one way forward though... keeping up the good play as Catania have been doing so far. Only when mathematics say there's enough points to avoid the drop, can Zenga start mulling on something more intriguing beyond survival.

Serie A statistics

1 st win of the season for Cagliari who left it late to conquer Turin for the first time since 1992/93 (5-0). Torino dominated for long stretches but their blunt attack let the team down as Cagliari scored the winner four minutes from time to claim an important victory in this basement clash. This was Torino's third straight defeat after back-to-back setbacks to Lazio (1-3) and Udinese (0-2). Udinese came back from two goals down to salvage a draw against Lecce. Had the southerners preserved their lead, it would have been their first home win over Udinese since April 17, 2004 (2-1). Udinese are unbeaten in their last five outings (three wins and two draws).

2 teams - Sampdoria and Reggina - are still without a win this season. Apart from these two sides, Torino, Catania, Genoa, Siena, Roma, Chievo and Lecce still have to record their first away success of the term. Bologna, Palermo and Genoa have no drawn results to show so far. Six teams - Inter, Catania, Genoa, Napoli, Atalanta and Palermo - have a 100 per cent winning record at home. Lazio possess the most prolific attack in the division with 15 goals. Having conceded 13 goals, bottom-of-the-class Reggina have the worst defensive record.

3 penalties were taken last weekend, scored by Catania's Giuseppe Mascara, Gianpaolo Pazzini, of Fiorentina, and Ronaldinho for Milan. Stefano Lucchini (Sampdoria), Morris Carrozzieri (Palermo) and Andrea Campagnolo (Reggina) received their marching orders. Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina) and Mauro Zarate (Lazio) lead the scorers' list with six goals each. The two are followed by Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter), Fabrizio Miccoli (Palermo) and Diego Milito (Genoa), all on five.

3 wins for Inter in their last three league visits to Rome as the champions were in a class of their own in a 4-0 drubbing of the home team to claim sole leadership in Serie A. This was Roma's first upset in the league at home this season. Away from their Olympic Stadium, Roma lost all their first three fixtures. Fiorentina made it three wins on the trot as they edged Reggina 3-0 in Tuscany. This was Fiorentina's seventh win over Reggina in as many home meetings.

5 straight defeats came to an end for Bologna as they caused the biggest surprise of the day by beating Lazio 3-1 at home on Sunday. This was Bologna's first home win against Lazio since March 25, 2004 (2-1). Also on Sunday, Genoa edged Siena 1-0 at home. This was Siena's first upset to Genoa after two identical 3-1 successes in December 2007 and May 2003. Chievo pursued with their winless streak after being held to a 1-1 draw by Atalanta 1-1 in Verona. They have not recorded a single win since beating Reggina 2-1 on the opening day.

27 goals were scored on the seventh day: 17 coming from the hosts and the remaining 10 from the visitors, who managed two victories. Foreigners contributed with 12 goals and there were eight first-half goals. Total number of goals scored so far amount to 161. Udinese centre-back Maurizio Domizzi committed the only own goal of the day. Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina), Marco Di Vaio (Bologna), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter) and Ronaldinho (Milan) scored a brace each last weekend. Gilardino, Filippo Inzaghi (Milan), Tommaso Rocchi (Lazio), Alexis Sanchez (Udinese) and Robert Acquafresca (Cagliari) came on as substitutes and scored.