Early Serie A Observations

Well, that was one whirlwind of an early exchange of the 2026/27 season of Serie A. Say what you want about the league, it always finds ways to entertain and keep everyone on the edge of their seats. To put into context how thrilling this early leg of the Serie A has been, first-placed Roma and 8th-placed Como are separated by just a matter of 3 points, going to show how competitively things are shaping up.

New coaches. New faces. Title contenders clashing early on to lay down a marker, and a few teams beginning to fall by the wayside. Safe to say that Serie A has had a little bit of something for everyone watching this time around.

So without wasting much time, let us into our early observations for the 2026/27 Serie A Season.

AS Roma burst out of the blocks in typical Gasperini fashion

AS Roma have continued where they left off from the second half of last season as they find themselves in first place after 5 games. This comes as no surprise as the players have finally seemed to get the total buy-in of the methods implemented by their coach Gian Piero Gasperini.

Roma have been prolific this season, with their 14 goals scored just one behind defending champions Inter Milan. Donyell Malen has continued his renaissance since joining Aston Villa and is the league’s leading scorer with 6 goals, Paulo Dybala already has 4 assists, while the entire attack of Malen, Dybala, Matias Soule, and Rodrigo Mora has been an absolute tearaway so far, proving to be an absolute menace to every team’s defense.

Their 2-2 draw against Inter proved that they are a very dangerous side on the attack, but Gasperini will be aware of the fact that as good as they are on attack, they are dangerously open at the back. They cannot have a brilliant start only to let it all fritter away, as they almost did against Inter after going 2-0 up only for Inter to come storming back at 2-2.

But even despite that blemish, Roma are serial entertainers and they could be a very pronounced contender in this season’s title race.

Lazio and Gattuso’s resurgence

In what has arguably been the most pleasant surprise of the season so far, Lazio under former Italy head coach Gennaro Gattuso are currently joint-top of the standings, marking a significant resurgence for both club and manager.

With Gattuso failing to help Italy qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and Lazio having just come out of a transfer embargo, both the parties were in dire need of a change in fortunes, and so far it has been a perfect marriage between club and manager. Lazio are currently the second-best defensive side in the league along with Inter, conceding just 3 goals in their opening 5 games, keeping 3 clean sheets in the process.

Daniel Frattesi has been the signing of the season for Lazio as his drive and impetus from the middle of the park are key factors in Lazio beginning the season so well. The 26-year-old has also scored 3 goals already, already marking himself as the lynchpin of this Lazio side. Mattia Zaccagni and Nuno Tavares have also started the season strongly with 2 assists each.

While the fans are in a state of perpetual strife with club owner Claudio Lotito, meaning that Lazio home games are mostly played in an empty stadium bar the away end, Gattuso and the club’s promising start to the season could probably kickstart something special.

AC Milan coming to terms with “Amorim-ball”

Speaking about rebuilding reputations, new AC Milan head coach Ruben Amorim has started rather promisingly, even if there are a few flaring points in these early stages of his Milan tenure.

The overlying numbers for Milan are positive in the early stages. 5th place but just 2 points behind the leaders. 10 goals scored and just 4 conceded and a welcome tactical flexibility by the Portuguese who was known for staying rigid with his formations, as he found to his detriment at Manchester United.

Diego Moreira has emerged to be the star man for Milan, netting 3 goals and establishing himself as an invaluable member of the side. Adrien Rabiot and new signing Goncalo Ramos have also been able foils to this Milan side.

The way is long and while the start has been good, Milan have not yet managed to get victories in the game that are decisive. They were 2-0 down against Lazio before coming back to draw 2-2 while they failed to hold on to a 1-0 lead against Juventus, conceding in added time of the second half to drop 2 more points.

There is work to be done, but Amorim can be reasonably pleased about the start he has had.