Preview: Spaghettiville – Palermo

By: Steven | November 19th, 2008

Sunday, November 23rd, 2008 15.00
Stadio Renato dall’ Ara, Bologna

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

Preview

Zero out of six in our last two games, and now we’re heading to Spaghettitown. And if there ever was a must-win game, then this is it. Bologna is (apart from Chievo and Roma) without a doubt the worst team in Serie A, and the coming of Sinisa may not help them a lot. In their last two games (the ones under Mihajlovic), they drew twice, almost doubling their total. Still, this is a team that is bound to go back down. And I don’t mean ‘bound to go down’ like Reggina and Cagliari were last year, but ‘bound to go down’ like Treviso and Ascoli were. The difference between those two and Bologna being that there is actually is talent playing under the Two Towers, like Mundigayi or Di Vaio.

Anywho, losing this game is unacceptable. (how many times have you heard me saying this in the last two months?) The team must have learned from the Torino-debacle, and I sure hope Balla did too. As I have stated before, Palermo is a team that’s better against big teams than against small ones. Compare the Roma-Juve-Inter games to the Torino-Chievo-Lecce games, and you will agree with me.

Furthermore, there is not a single excuse that could let these guys off the hook when they screw up. If they could just play 4-5 good games in a row, and if the lazy fokkers in the line-up could finally see that it is an honor to wear the rosanero…

Squad Status

Palermo

Aah, my favourite part of preview-Wednesday. Or not. I hate predicting the same line-up week in, week out. Why? Because most of that line-up is fucked up. I hope that there one day will come a time when I received an email from bigpapapalermo@libero.it, saying that I’m granted a chance to take over the team for a month. But until that happens, I’ll have to use The Offside as my forum.

Butterfingers is ready to play and didn’t have a midweek-game with the Azzurri, Butterfingers 2 is benched. But Balla has big problems: Nocerino is still suspended after ‘The elbow that wasn’t’, and Bovo and Balza have the same problem after picking up too many cards. Y’all know what that means. The Arab stays where he is, constantly falling too the floor trying to find Mekka and Kjaer will replace Bovo alongside Moris. Oh yeah, and then there’s the left back position. You’ll never guess…ShitPants will get his first start of the season! Why don’t we just hand over the three points to Pasta FC before the game?

Probable Lineup:
Amelia; Cassani, Carrozzieri, Kjaer, Capuano; Migliaccio, Liverani, Bresciano; Simplicio; Cavani, Miccoli

Bologna

There is a Bologna-blog but I don’t know if they’ll be doing a preview, so it’s up to me. Yet again. Bologna is something special. A mix of mercenaries and old guys wanted nowhere else. Don’t believe me? Good, I’ll prove it. César, Di Vaio, Antonioli, Adailton, Marrazina… The perfect recipe for a one way ticket to Serie B.

But Bologna has a hero as well. Maybe not a Bologna-hero, but most definitely a Palermo-hero…

This man, boys and girls, is the reason that I eat, sleep and breathe Rosanero. I have told the story before, not going to do it again now. For those who want to know: his sweaty shirt is still hanging in my room. Davide won’t be around though, injured. Shame.

Probable Lineup:
Antonioli; Zenoni, Terzi, Moras, Lanna; Marchini, Volpi, Mudingay, Cesar; Adailton, Di Vaio

Categorical Match up

Lesser of Two Evils vs. Travelin’ man: Push. They’re both questionable goalies. The least tested will win.

Beauty & The Beast vs. Swiss Cheese: Palermo. A dared gamble, I agree. Especially seeing Cassani (dreadful game last week) and ShitPants on the flanks. I sure hope they both want to show that they can play.

Allah Ahkbar & the Damage Control 3 vs. Nothing Special: Push. Bresciano + Liverani = carnage waiting to happen. On the other side, there’s Gaby. A beast.

Make or Break vs. Second Class: Push. Our striking pair hasn’t scored in the last two games. Nothing to add there.

Final Analysis

We’re playing the second worst defense in the league. We’re playing a team that do not even come close to a one goal per game-ratio. We’re playing a relegation battler who just appointed a new coach. All the omens are against us. I don’t care if this game will be uglier than the lovechild of Fabio Liverani, Giuseppe Mascara and Franck Ribéry: I want three points. I don’t care if it ends 0-1, thanks to a 80 miles an hour freekick deflecting off Bresciano’s face, leaving the Aussie like he had just gotten ten minutes with Mike Tyson. I WANT THOSE GODDAMN, MOTHERFUCKIN’ THREE POINTS!

Form Guide

Palermo
L D W L L

Torino
L L L D D

Past Encounters

13/02/2005 Bologna – Palermo 1-1 Serie A
03/10/2004 Palermo – Bologna 1-0 Serie A

Prediction

None.

MOTM

Moris.

Remembering the good times