Italian Serie A player ratings: SSC Napoli 1 – US Palermo 0 (Part 2)
US Palermo
Salvatore Sirigu – 7.5
This youngster is definitely the heir to great Gianluigi Buffon for the national team. Sirigu was a one man defensive wall and the likes of Lavezzi and Cavani made short work of his defence. Rosanero custodian almost won a point for his team as Napoli scored
a goal in the dying stages of the game.
Ezequiel Munoz – 6
Munoz was played out of position as a right back and that showed in his performance. The Argentine struggled to make an impact going forward and was given a torrid time by Dossena and Lavezzi. To his credit however, the player fought admirably and never
let the opposition get to his head.
Dorin Goian – 5
The Romanian International had a night to forget as he was frequently left chasing Lavezzi’s Sicilian dust. Goian was lucky to stay on the pitch after taking down Cavani with a rash tackle in the first half.
Cesare Bovo – 6.5
The defender was the best of a poor back four but that isn’t saying much. While Bovo was poor in possession, he did make some excellent tackles with his highlight being a goal saving tackle on Hamsik in the second half.
Mattia Cassani – 6
Cassani was made to play on his least favourite flank but did not disappoint on the night. The wing back supplied some quality crosses but his teammates were not up to the task.
Giulio Migliaccio – 6
Migliaccio’s performance was a far cry from the dominant Italian we saw against AS Roma. However, his teammates let his efforts down as he rarely lost out in one-on-one situations.
Federico Balzaretti – 6
Delio Rossi tinkered with the tactics for this game as he played Balzaretti as a wing back – a position Balzaretti clearly isn’t accustomed to. The Italian international was often found wanting in defence in what turned out to be a disappointing outing for
Balzaretti.
Josip Ilicic – 4.5
This was undoubtedly the worst performance in a Rosanero jersey for Ilicic following his summer arrival in Sicily. Nothing he tried turned out well as the player had a night to forget. Ilicic will have better games for Palermo and should not get disheartened
by a one-off bad performance.
Fabrizio Miccoli – 6
It was a frustrating night for the mercurial Rosanero skipper as he was often left isolated in the opposition’s final third. Miccoli tried to open the scoring on numerous occasions but his finishing let him down.
Javier Pastore – 6.5
Despite not having a great game, Pastore was one of the better Rosanero players as he tried to crack open the Partenopei defence whenever presented with the oppurtinity. However, he failed to win the game for Rosanero in the second half when he smashed a
simple finish into De Sanctis’ face.
Substitutions:
Massimo Maccarone – 5.5
Maccarone replaced Miccoli towards the end of the game but couldn’t make any impact.
Mauricio Panilla – 5.5
Panilla was brought on for ineffective Ilicic but was little improvement.
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