The Queen Of The South

By: Steven | November 12th, 2007

tedesco

It had been exactly 25 days since Napoli came to Palermo for a Serie A-game. Two wonderfull teams, two great cities with similar problems, two former parts of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. And one hell of a game. First of all, there was the banner in the audience saying ‘Edy, Grazie Per Tutto’. Palermo-fans tend not to forget their former heroes, as Napoli-coach Reja was part of the team that beat the Partenopei 1-0 in ‘72.

I haven’t seen much off the game, as I was having a romantic dinner at the time, but I’ve seen enough to say that this was one of our best games ever. Brienza played a really great game, I think this was the game he needed for proving that he’s worthy of a spot in the starting eleven. Old Man Jimmy was his usual self: keeping out almost everything. Although he was lucky when he came out on one of the first Napoli-chances: takin’ on Napoli with 10 guys would’ve been terrible. Up front there were a lot of chances, but for some reason the ball didn’t like getting into the goal. We should’ve at least scored 4 times Saturday. So finally we can put that ‘5 draws in a row’-crap behind us, and go into the international break with full confidence. Bring on those filthy Scudetto-stealin’ Juventini!

Line-ups:

Palermo: Fontana; Zaccardo, Biava, Barzagli, Capuano (Pisano 56); Diana, Tedesco (Cassani 72), Simplicio (Jankovic 83), Caserta; Brienza, Cavani

Napoli: Iezzo; Contini (Maldonado 23) (Calaio’ 73), Cannavaro, Domizzi; Garics, Hamsik, Gargano, Bogliacino, Savini; Lavezzi, Zalayeta (Sosa 82)

Ref: Rosetti

Ratings
FONTANA 7: Fast, secure and always in the right place. Can’t be blamed for the Napoli-goal.

ZACCARDO 5,5 : Should’ve been faster on that corner kick. Was late and Bogliaccino scored.

BIAVA 6: Did a good job keeping Gargano and Lavezzi out of the game, but is always a little bit less good than anyone else.

BARZAGLI 6,5: Leader of the defense, didn’t give Zalayeta much space.

CAPUANO 5,5: Another player not good enough for a starting spot. Everytime Hamsik came near him, he shit his pants and made a mistake.

PISANO 6: Replaced ShitPants, did enough. Nothing more than enough, but enough.

DIANA 6: Less prominent than in other games, was closed down well. Did a good job helping the defense close down on Napoli.

SIMPLICIO 6: Was closed down good by Gargano, but had some nice outbreaks. Irreplaceable force in midfield.

JANKOVIC s.v.: Not enough playtime to judge the kid.

TEDESCO 7,5: I still think he’s old, lazy and not good enough for Serie A. But i’m willing to forget all of that for at least 2 weeks because of his magnificent goals.

CASSANI 6: Anonymous. Again. What’s his name again?

CASERTA 6,5: Told you guys he was good, didn’t I? Shit, I love him. He looks like a retarded biker and he can’t cross, but I love him!

CAVANI 6,5: Did well, but has to do more to get in the footsteps of Amauri. Had at least 3 fantastic opportunities to score, but missed all of them.

BRIENZA 7: First time in the starting eleven this season, excellent game. Did well covering for Miccoli, too bad he didn’t score.

Man Of The Match:

Tedesco. Jimmy did great, but Tedesco was the man.