Parma 4-0 Empoli That's more like it, though Frey had to save a penalty early. Anyone know what's going on with the Rome Derby, because that's Lazio's game in hand...
Chievo 0-2 Parma This is a result I never expected. Shows some resiliancy, and probably some luck. Too bad Marco was sent off, but impressive result. Lazio won't get rid of us too easily! Next week we HAVE to win, because Lazio play Juve in Torino, and it's a perfect chance to finally go ahead of them. I was hoping Juve would give us some breathing room with respect to Inter today, but they have another chance...
Yet another inspired win on the road. We basically dominated them, though I think they were a little flat after Milan's last-gasp tie the week before. Gilardino's got 15 goals, while Adriano's sitting on the pine for Inter. Incredible, we just keep cranking out the quality forwards. As long as we keep Prandelli (and don't go bankrupt) this team will stay competitive and make us proud.
No new rumors of late. Though Barilla is definitely not interested. A while back I heard that the Prosciutto Consortium was going to put together a bid. I have a feeling that nothing's going to happen until the Italian Calcio Federation gets the debt situation ironed out with the EU.
I watched the match from right after Lecce's goal to the end. We play good football! Some of our defending is a bit clumsy and/or cynical (Castellini!), but going forward we are sexy! Gilardino's second was beautiful: Bresciano chipped the ball up for Carbone, who drew the two Lecce central defenders to him, and one of them nodded down into the path of Gilardino, who just rifled it home through the goalie. Our team really looks good, though--they play together well, and we have some great players. I'm glad Adriano's gone, because Gilardino was wasted on the bench. Blasi is back and looks good. I hope we can keep the team together--especially Prandelli! Hope Juve beats Lazio tonight, and then loses to us next week! FORZA PARMA! Anybody hear about Milan winning on a penalty? Sounds a bit too familiar...
Right on, gialloblu. Another great performance. That's three in a row. Prandelli has got to be coach of the year in Serie A.
Parma-Juve today It's a beautiful sunny day and the 'gobbi' are in town. Let's give 'em hell! Rumor mill: 1:Gilardino already has an agreement in place to sign with Juve after the season. 2: Alex Ferguson's brother, trusted ManU scout, will be at Tardini today to see Gilardino, Ferrari, (same players that Juve covets) and Frey. I hate to be cynical and crass, but if we could get a bidding war going for Gila, it could really save our skin. Fact: Italian bankruptcy court passed a motion Friday which would allow Parmalat to divide and sell off its assets without first draining the liquid value of those assets to pay off the colossal Parmalat black hole. In other words, potential buyers of Parma AC now have a fixed idea of what they'd be buying. This COULD be the light at the end of the tunnel...
Parma 2-2 Juve; SOOOOOOOOOOO close... A great match, which we had SO MANY CHANCES to win, especially a string of misses (a few by Bresciano) that would have made it 2-0. As it was, I thought we'd hold on the second time, but I should have known. We had to throw Morfeo on for Blasi to get ahead again, and there wasn't enough cover with Di Vaio, Miccoli, Nedved and Trezeguet running at us. I had a feeling Marco would score against us, but why did it have to be Tudor? I knew we weren't strong enough at the back to contain everyone Juve had, but we were sooo good going forward, we really should have got the goals to put us clear... Gilardino, Marchionni, Carbone, Ferrari and Frey were excellent. Bresciano was great until it came finishing time--he had two great chances, at least! Morfeo did well when he came in, and the rest played well. Unfortunately for the defense, Cannavaro seemed to be covering the more dangerous strikers the whole time--the first Juve goal, for example. It just seems like he'll make at least one bad mistake every game. But the guys up front could have put this game away, so I don't blame the defense--I never expected them to shut Juve out. The shame is that both Inter and Lazio won, though not unexpectedly, so we are now in 5th, and Lazio has a game in hand. Good news is that they play each other next week--hope for a draw! Stupid Inter having to get better. The only 'hard' game they have left is when we visit San Siro--that should be the biggest game of our season. Lazio have the Roma derby to finish, but otherwise Brescia away is their toughest match. Let's not screw up all our good work at Reggina...
Just to write out what I was getting at: CHAMPS' LGE RUN-IN Inter, 52 pts. vs. LAZIO, at Lecce, vs. PARMA, at Empoli Parma, 51 pts. at Reggina, vs. Ancona, at INTER, vs. Udinese Lazio, 50 pts. at INTER, vs. Reggina, at Brescia, vs Modena, vs. Roma Only Lazio has a game against one of the top three left, and we each have the same number of home and away games. If we count all games against other teams as wins (except potentially Lazio-Roma), then if Inter win next week we have to win in San Siro. I'd say Lecce-Inter, Parma-Udinese and Brescia-Lazio are the most dangerous matches out of the ones we will be expected to win. Lazio still control their own destiny, because of the game in hand, but they have the tougher schedule. Inter play both rivals at home, so that will make them happy. Today would have been a vital win for us, but we still have a chance to make it, we just have to keep playing as brilliantly as we have been. It would help, of course, if Lazio and Inter drew next week. The big game for us is obviously our visit to Milan. FORZA PARMA!
Re: Parma-Juve today Parma got lucky that there was some terrible officiating, there were two clear instances where a penalty should have been issued. Blasi has proved that he's a hack, plain and simple.
Canavarro out Paolo Canavarro busted up his ankle against Juve and will have surgery shortly. He's out for the rest of the season. Champions League's in the bag now.
Re: Parma-Juve today Well, you got lucky in that there were 5 or 6 clear instances where we should have scored. Sorta like Lecce did today...
Reggina 1-1 Parma For the second week running an ex-gialloblu costs us points. I don't know what the game was like, but we got a perfect start, and a lapse in concentration (on a corner, this time) again cost us. Both teams seemed to have chances to win, so maybe the result is fair. It does put us in a difficult situation, and I'm not sure how the champions' league is in the bag, Allycks...(oh, I see, you were referring to Paolo's injury... ) We now really have to beat Inter when we visit them in a few weeks. I could see Inter losing to Lecce (take that JUVE!), but not sure Reggina can hold Lazio in Rome. We must win all our games, and this one was a missed opportunity...
Reggina-Parma 1-1 I only saw the highlights, but it seemed we were pretty lucky to get a point down there in Calabria. Maybe I should say we were lucky to have Sebastian Frey, who made at least four spectacular 'plastic man' saves. Of course Reggina are fighting tooth and nail at the edge of the relegation zone, so it was destined to be a tough one. Let's hope there's no letdown next week vs. Ancona (there are at least three ex's to deal with: super DINO Baggio, Gigi Sartor, and Jimmy Maini), before the showdown with Inter.
You are especially lucky to have Frey because he apparently has magic hands which refs can't see him use outside the box.
'Unintentionally' magic hands, that is. Seriously though, you could tell on the replay that the ball took an unexpected trajectory and basically bounced off his right forearm as he was sliding. Totally kosher, according to the gods of the 'moviola.'
Took an "unexpected" trajectory off his FOOT because he completely screwed up his sliding attempt to kick it away. The "moviola" folks were full of it on this one (as they were when they said Di Michele was "maybe" onside - he was clearly on). If his arm had not conveniently hit the ball, the Reggina player was in alone on the empty net.
Unintentionally yes. Neither the elegance of his slide nor the hypothetical postition of any Reggina players after the play have any bearing on the fact that his arm didn't move. The ball spun backwards and struck his arm as he was sliding in, all of which happened in less than half of a second. Just because the ball comes into contact with your arm doesn't make it a penalty-- there has to be the clear intention to touch the ball in order to create a foul. FORZA PARMA!
Parma 3-1 Ancona What a wonderful day of Serie A football! Big thanks to Reggina and especially Lecce: I believed in you! Match of the season next week, boys: FORZA PARMA!
If Parma makes it to the Champions League, it'll have been an incredible feat of magic after everything that's gone on. But it'll be pretty tough to do anything there, given the expected exodus. I guess same-old same-old for Parma fans.