Two For The Price Of One

By: Steven | October 27th, 2008

As we are already playing our next game on Wednesday, I’m combining the review of last night’s joke against Fioremerda with a Lecce-preview.

Review
Well, that was unexpected, wasn’t it? I never thought Raggi could be worse than we expected him to be before the game, but I think (or should I say hope) that we have seen his final minutes in the pink shirt yesterday. Raggi’s touch, style and lack of talent make me think of the days when we had players like Ernesto Farias and Kewullay Conteh in the team.

My other big remark about the game is the total lack of sportsmanship, class and respect of Alfucko Gilartuffo. There used to be a time, at Parma, when I liked him. Last year, I thought that he was the heir to Inzaghi: you didn’t see him all game, and then he was there to tap in the almost made goal from a teammate. After yesterday, I want to rip of his gonads, show them to his mother and let her eat them.

Zampa, of course, was his loveable self after the match:
“It is outrageous. We will demand that the disciplinary committee use TV pictures, as he deserves at least a 5-game ban. He even had the cheek to celebrate, that’s plain incredible.
Palermo played a good match, but we were clearly robbed, with the referee and the linesman giving a huge contribution. The same thing happened two seasons ago, when Adrian Mutu made a fool of us, hitting the back of the net while one of our players was down injured. Is this the same side that advocated fair play and the ‘terzo tempo’? Get out of here…”
And for the first time in months, who can argue with that?

What I Liked:

Kjaer did well. He’s young, he looks like one of the Hanson-brothers and it was his debut, but I’ve seen nice things. I expect Balla to have seen it to, and expect him to play alongside Moris on Wednesday.

Fabio is still a beast. He keeps working when the other tend to slow down.

Jimmy’s return. I almost went berserk when I saw that smiling bald dude coming out at half time. Glad to have you back, oldtimer.

What I Didn’t Like:

Raggi. Don’t think I need to elaborate.

The defense kept on going backwards every time we lost the ball. You need to put pressure on the ball, not act like a bunch of pussies.

For a minute by minute resume, check the previous post.

Pagelle:

Amelia: 6.5. Could do nothing about the Tuffo-goal, didn’t look too bad, had some good saves.
Raggi: 3. Bidone d’Oro
Dellafiore: 5. Was toyed around by Tuffo and the Gypsy.
Balzaretti: 6. Good in attacking, bad at defending. You’re a back, not a midfielder.
Cassani: 5. Anonymous, some good clearances.
Liverani: 4. Had a decent start, sucked away for the other 75 minutes. Bench him for life. Especially for that third goal-error.
Simplicio: 6.5. Great goal, hard work, error on the first Mutu-goal.

Nocerino: 5. Not great. Gave away too much space in midfield.
Bresciano: 6. Worked hard, is trying to get back into my grace. Should’ve scored in the first half, but shot ended in Frey’s hands.
Miccoli: 6.5. Great assist and work for the assist, lots of shots, but lacked firepower.
Cavani: 6.5. Should’ve scored, did some great work. He’s starting to get better and better by the week.
Kjaer: 6. Good debut, he’s a keeper.
Fontana: 6.5. Did well coming in, good to see him back.
Lanza77: 6.5. Worked hard in the 20 minutes that were granted him, needs more time to prove himself.

Ballardini: 5.5. Made a big mistake starting Raggi over Kjaer and Liverani over Migliaccio. The damage control during half time looked like it was gonna work, but Liverani blew it all away. Should’ve brought Lanzafame earlier on, although that is an arguable call.

Facts:

Palermo 1–3 Fiorentina

Gilardino 19’ (F)
Mutu 42’,62’ (F)
Simplicio 50’ (P)

Palermo: Amelia (Fontana 45’); Cassani, Raggi, Dellafiore (Kjaer 45’), Balzaretti; Liverani, Nocerino (Lanzafame 66’), Bresciano, Simplicio; Cavani, Miccoli

Firoentina: Frey; Comotto, Dainelli (Kroldrup 35’), Gamberini, Vargas; Kuzmanovic (Almiron 64’), Donadel, Montolivo, Santana, Gilardino (Pazzini 75’), Mutu

Referee: Morganti

Giornata 8’s Androberto Guarraciolo Award:

It’s a tie between Bidone and The Arab. I still can’t believe the amount of errors those two made.

Highlights:

Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 20.30 (I guess)
Stadio Via Del Mare, Lecce

Palermo Boys, we are here. We beat your women and drink their beer, Palermo Boys, we are here.

Preview

Most of what I wanted to say has already been said in the comments of the liveblog and in the review above, so I’ll keep this short and simple. We need those three points. We have Lecce, Chievo and Torino the following weeks, so a 9/9 isn’t too much too ask, is it? Chievo and Torino are two of the worst teams in Serie A, and Lecce, although at 9 points, just got beat by Reggina.

Squad Status

Palermo

It’s looking a little less shitty than last week. Moris can retake his place in the center of the defense, and Jimmy might get Amelia’s place. Up front, Micco’s still ok. I’m not putting up a probable line-up, but a desired line-up.

Probable Lineup:
Fontana; Cassani, Kjaer, Moris, Balzaretti; Nocerino, Migliaccio, Bresciano; Simplicio; Miccoli, Cavani.

Lecce

Lecce’s Offside is pretty dead, so I’ll have to do the honours. No Tiribocchi, and lots of defensive problems. Ex-Palermitani Giacomazzi and Caserta are playing pretty good these days, but it shouldn’t be a problem coping with them.

Probable Lineup:
No idea, should look something like this:

Benussi; Polenghi, Stendardo, Fabiano, Esposito, Giacomazzi, Ardito, Ariatti, Caserta, Castillo, Cacia

Categorical Match up

Jimmy! vs. Who?: Palermo. Really, I have never even heard of Benussi. Anyone? Help?

The Semi-Hole in the Maze vs. The Big Hole In The Maze: Palermo. Moris is back, and if Kjaer starts, there might not even be a hole in the maze anymore. Lecce, on the other hand, are having all sorts of defensive problems. They also seem to concede a lot of penalties these days…

Not the Arab! vs. Ex-Palermitani: Push. Caserta is scoring a lot and playing good, Giacomazzi has a powerful shot and then there’s Esposito. We have an Arab that can’t play for shit, and a talented young Antonio that’s not living up to potential.

Score already, you fuckin’ longhaired hippie vs. Sketchy: Push.
Why a push? Because we had so many chances yesterday, and then we need a defensive midfielder to score our only goal. That’s why.

Final Analysis

I don’t really feel like talking a lot about it in advance, because it feels like karma is catching up on me the last couple of matchdays. Everytime we’re sure to take the win, we lose. So fuck it, I say Lecce will take this.

Form Guide

Palermo
L W W L L

Lecce
L W D D L

Past Encounters

05/03/2006 Lecce – Palermo 2-0 Serie A
26/10/2005 Palermo – Lecce 3-0 Serie A
20/02/2005 Palermo – Lecce 3-2 Serie A
17/10/2004 Lecce – Palermo 2-0 Serie A

Prediction

Don’t know. You guys call it.

MOTM

The ref.

Remembering the good times