nlike Notts County's kit and Mister, the football term Derby used throughout Italy has largely diverged from its original English etymology. While fans in the Premier League still expect two-footed tackles and rabid commitment when local sides meet, some Italian derbies incur little or in the case of Sunday's meeting between Fiorentina and Siena, no added enthusiasm.

Host Kevin is joined by Serie A Weekly writers Owen Neilson and Ryan Ross to discuss all the surprises and events from the first half of the Italian Serie A 2011-12 season. Podcast topics include, Juventus, Milan and Inter, players like Jovetic, Klose, Djibril Cissé and Simone Pepe, a Best XI, and also a few words on racism in football.

Oh Udinese, what happened to you in Thursday's Europa League match against Atlético? The zebrette won the first leg, 2-0, but on their visit to Madrid were hammered 4-0. But there's not really that much you can take away from an Udinese loss in Europe's lesser tournament. Francesco Guidolin certainly didn't field a full-strength squad, at least not from the start, leaving out Mauricio Isla,.

Michael Bradley will assume his regular defensive midfield position in Domenico di Carlo's starting eleven as Chievo looks to get back to winning ways as they travel to Tuscany to take on AC Siena.

Failure to beat Cagliari on the season's opening game served to make Roma's trip to Inter a considerably more daunting prospect. Normally, both a clean sheet and an accompanying San Siro point would have been considered a profitable raid to the north, but in retrospect, Enrique was left to rue his team's bewildering inability to score.

It was a frenetic day at the ATA Executive Hotel in Milan on Wednesday as clubs from Italy's top-flight desperately tried to put the finishing touches to their squads for the season ahead. After a flurry of last minute activity, sporting directors across the peninsula can now head for some late summer sunshine before preparing for January when the window will re-open for business.

2010 11 Recap What a contrast there is between the three newly promoted teams arriving in Serie A this season. Two of them, Atalanta and Siena, make a quick return to Italy's top-flight after just a season's absence, the third , Novara, are welcomed back into the peninsula's premier division for the first time in 55 years .

Back in May life was good at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia in Bergamo. Atalanta had accomplished their mission of making an immediate return to the Italian top-flight by winning the Serie Bwin championship, coach Stefano Colantuono committed his future to the club and the players were looking forward to a well earned summer vacation.

Associazione Calcio Siena (often referred to as 'Robur' or simply 'Siena') is an Italian football club based in Siena. After a year in Serie B, AC Siena will return to the top flight of Italian soccer, Serie A, for the 2011/12 season courtesy of their second place league finish last season. As the club prepares for [.

Associazione Calcio Siena (often referred to as 'Robur' or simply 'Siena') is an Italian football club based in Siena. After a year in Serie B, AC Siena will return to the top flight of Italian soccer, Serie A, for the 2011/12 season courtesy of their second place league finish last season. As the club prepares for [.

Week 1 & 20 28/08/11 and 29/01/12 Atalanta Cesena Bologna Roma Cagliari- Milan Inter- Lecce Lazio Chievo Napoli Genoa Novara Palermo Parma Catania Siena Fiorentina Udinese Juventus Week 2 & 21 11/09/11 and 01/02/12 Catania Siena Cesena Napoli Chievo Novara Fiorentina Bologna Genoa .

This episode we welcome freelance writer Scott Fleming from Football-Italia.net. More on summer 2011 and Italian Serie A new arrivals in clubs, players and owndership. give the podcast a listen and leave your comments Recorded during the previous 24hrs with Italian football discussion including, the new and not so new Lazio a hazy transfer window Rossi to Juventus Cesena build up the return of.