Preview: Pesto Boys – Palermo

By: Steven | January 15th, 2009

Sunday, January 18th, 2009 15.00
Stadio Marassi, Genova

I warriors, brigate rosanero, siamo forti e vinceremo!

Preview

Hm. Crazy week, although nothing really happened. The ASS Roma Daffyd Thomas Poofter Club finally passed us in the standings, and that after 18 games in Serie A. Reports in the Eternal City have warned that supermarkets have completely run out of their year’s supply of Vaseline and KY, and that 84% of the male population is suffering from Gaping Asshole Syndrome. In the meantime, we still haven’t signed a proper player. A 17-year old from Eccellenza might be a move for the future, but he’s not going to put Capuano on the bench. Rumours are spreading about a Portugese reinforcement, but that could also easily be Zampa’s new crush suffering from hair on her back.

So we came away from the Atalanta game pretty much unharmed. Miccoli is in dubio for Sunday, but we didn’t get any other casualties or red cards. With Balzaretti coming back, the left flank will once again be shit-free. The opponent is coming at us at the right time. Sampdoria just ‘beat us’ to the signature of Pazzini, got fucked over by Julio Baptista (who had taken over Menez’ role as the subject of ‘you gotta go now’-comments by the Roma-‘fans’, but now will be given the key to the city and Totti’s Hairy Backdoor Bonanza-collection on Saturday) and have seen Jonathan Bottinelli return to Argentina because of family problems. Aside from that, we also need to take revenge for the 3-0 beating the Doriani gave us last year.

Squad Status

Palermo

Bovo and Balzaretti return, so that means the bench for Kjaer and a bullet for Capuano. Miccoli is likely to return just in time for the game, but if not, his replacement can be found in Succi, the poor man’s Andrea Carraciolo. For the rest, not much will change as the midfield is like Skull & Bones: almost impossible to get in from the outside.

Probable Lineup:
Amelia; Cassani, Carrozzieri, Bovo, Balzaretti; Nocerino, Liverani, Bresciano; Simplicio; Cavani, Miccoli

Sampdoria

The Samp Offside is as dead as Brett Michaels’ self-respect. Pazzini will most likely remain on the bench, as Bellucci and Cassano will start. Stankevicius is without a doubt the weakest link in this team. In the game against Standard he made 3 errors, resulting in a 3-0 defeat, and hasn’t recovered since then.

Probable Lineup:
Castellazzi; Lucchini, Gastaldello, Accardi; Stankevicius, Delvecchio, Palombo, Franceschini, Pieri; Bellucci, Cassano

Categorical Matchup

Soccer Mom vs. So and So: Palermo. Castellazzi can sometime come out as a Primavera-player, while Marco is on top of his game right now.

Bash Brothers Reunited vs. 3 of a Kind: Push. Don’t know. Our defense isn’t the strongest when guys return from suspension, but the threeway in the back on the other side isn’t the most secure either.

Bald-Beard-Brown-Bashir vs. Day to Day: Palermo. Our midfield acted like they always should in last week’s game. Too bad it isn’t always like that. Sampdoria has a powerful midfield, but with Stankevicius and Delvecchio not playing at top level, there may be options.

He’s getting there vs. Acne-Man: Push. If Micco plays, we have a chance. Cassano is dangerous, but in the last 5 games we bagged twice as much goals as Samp.

Final Analysis

This could go both ways. One: Samp have had enough of the bad games, the lack of goals and the two straight defeats at the Marassi, and will want to turn things back to normal. Added to that is our miserable form away from home. Two: Palermo will want to show that they deserve more than that mid-table position and will tear up the Samp-defense. We score a lot these days, and without Capuano we seems to be able to not let a lot of balls go past Amelia.

Form Guide

Palermo
WLWLW

Sampdoria
LWLDL

Previous Encounters:

Dunno.

Prediction
1-2.

MOTM:

Miccoli, for showing up.