Serie A findings Round 10 – What we learned from this week’s fixtures (Part 2)
No Cassano, No creativity!
Il Talentino de Bari fell out with Sampdoria President last week and the club duly applied for cessation of his contract. While the court works on the case, Cassano has been frozen out of the squad.
In two matches that Blucerchiati have played in his absence, they have only managed just a single goal. On the weekend, Sampdoria was up against Catania at Stadio Luigi Ferraris and Domenico Di Carlo’s side could only muster a scoreless
draw. It was a boring affair to say the least and the game could certainly have done with Cassano’s creativity, flair and trickery.
Sampdoria is not a club blessed with attacking talent. The only two world-class attackers in the squad are Giampaolo Pazzini and Antonio Cassano. It was indeed Talentino’s genius that revived the dwindling career of the former and with
Cassano set to face an exit, one can only guess the affect it will have on Pazzo’s game.
AS Roma play better without Francesco Totti
The most important of the weekend’s games was the Roma-Lazio derby. Aquile were flying high while the Gilarossi had been going through a poor run of form. On the pitch however, they tables were turned. Gilarossi inflicted a 2 – 0 defeat
on the league leaders courtesy two soft penalties. Such a result has the potential to reignite Roma’s faltering campaign.
Lupi skipper and club favourite Francesco Totti was suspended for the hotly anticipated fixture. Instead of urging his teammates on from the stands and motivating them, Totti failed to turn up at Stadio Olimpico. Prior to the match, Er
Pupone declared on his personal website that without his services, Roma will surely lose and that Totti will not even come to the stadium as a defeat would be too painful. Needless to say, Roma won the game and Totti was made to eat his own words.
In the second derby of last year, Ranieri took off Totti and De Rossi at half time interval with his side trailing. Roma produced a spirited second half display to turn thing around and duly won the match. It seems AS Roma play better
without their Captain on the pitch. Ranieri has a decision to make.
The coach might not have the courage to axe the firm fan favourite but judging by the Gilarossi performance without his services, it’s arguable whether Romans truly need his services from the off.
Sinisa Mihajlovic is safe, for now!
ACF Fiorentina is another team that is playing well below the standard expected of them. With dismissive performances the Florence based outfit has struggled badly to make an impact. While injury to star man Stevan Jovetic has certainly
played its part, Viola have enough quality to make up for his loss, decent enough backup at least to rank higher than a poor 11th spot in the standings.
While Mihajlovis’s side have gone undefeated in their last three league games. They are yet to face the usual suspects in AC Milan, Juventus FC, Inter Milan and AS Roma. Mihajlovic’s boys will take on Ranieri’s Lupi tomorrow in the first
real test for Sinisa. The game against Gilarossi at Stadio Olimpico, Rome, will be the acid test of Mihajlovic’s calibre and failure to achieve a result will leave the tactician’s future hanging by a thread.
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