Palermo - Napoli Preview

By: Steven | November 8th, 2007

Saturday November 10, 2007
Stadio Renzo Barbera, Palermo
Squad Status

Palermo

Shit. About half the midfield is gone: Bresciano, Miccoli and Migliaccio are injured, and Guana is banned. Which leaves us with Simplicio, Diana, Caserta and possibly Jankovic. Let’s hope it’s gonna be Jankovic, because we don’t want the alternative: Giovanni ‘my contract was extended because I was born in Palermo’ Tedesco. The horror! We’re still without Miccoli’s scoring power, and there’s more trouble in paradise: Amauri’s out as well! We’ll probably see Brienza making another appearance.

Probable Line-up
Fontana; Zaccardo, Barzagli, Rinaudo, Capuano; Diana, Simplicio, Jankovic, Caserta; Cavani, Brienza

Napoli

Manuele Blasi is the only injured Napolitano, and Calaio probably will be left to warm the bench after fuckin’ up last weeks excellent penalty-opportunity. Battle up front for the remaining striker-slot between Zalayeta and Pampa Sosa. For more on the line-up, drag your asses over to Joe’s.

Probable Line-up
Iezzo; Contini, Cannavaro, Domizzi; Grava, Hamsik, Gargano, Bogliacino, Savini; Zalayeta, Lavezzi

Categorical Matchup

Goalie- Palermo: Old Man Jimmy is having the time of his life. Did you see the shots he kept out against Genoa? All that Napoli can put up to that is Gennaro Iezzo, not the best keeper in the league. By far.

Defense- Push: Rinaudo, Barzagli and Zaccardo are awesome, but the latter two had some serious problems coping with the Genoa-attack. Napoli’s playing a 3-man defense with Cannavaro and Domizzi, so it’ll be hard to say who’ll close the gate best.

Midfield- Napoli: As said before: shit. Simplicio is the only one who’s playing above ‘well’, and they’ll have to compete against Grava, Bogliaccino and Superman. Err, I mean Marek Hamsik. Easy call.

Forwards- Napoli: Zalayeta/Sosa + Ezequiel ‘Man On Fire’ Lavezzi versus Brienza and Cavani. Don’t get me wrong, I love our boys, but they’ll have a hard time if you see what they’re up against. Lavezzi is someone who had been tailor-made for Palermo, too bad he’ll be on the other side of the pitch.

Final Analysis

On a cold day in November ‘72, Palermo beat Napoli 1-0 at home in their last Serie A-encounter. If Saturday’s game between the Mezzogiorno’s two biggest clubs (man, it feels great saying something like that) ends like it did 25 years ago, I’ll be one happy camper. Napoli got 5 points out of their last 5 games, and so did Palermo. Napoli at least got one win, while Palermo drew 5 in a row. It’s like ‘Guidolin at the end of last season’ all over again. Colantuono might get the boot if he fails to lead the team to victory, because Zamparini is really, really, REALLY not amused with the team the last couple of weeks. We’re probably starting with a 4-5-1, just like against Inter. I have a really bad feeling about this.

Napoli was held to 1-1 in Reggio Calabria last week, and were only saved in the last minutes by Lavezzi. Aurelio De Laurentis, the sane version of Zamparini, was not amused either. And there’s some other people who won’t be amused: the Partenopei won’t be backed up by their fans, as their recent antics on the road were reason enough for a ban by the FIGC. Zamparini was not amused. Gotta love the guy.

So, it’ll be an eye for an eye-game on Saturday. and I don’t see the game ending with 22 guys on the pitch.

Prediction

Palermo lockdown and counter versus Napoli strikeforce. I predict another draw, thanks to the homecrowd. 2-2, goals by Brienza and Cavani.