Early game this week. You can bet I won't be awake yet... 26 players called up this weekend...Never understood why Italy lets so many be called up. PORTIERI: Alastra, Colombi, Sorrentino. DIFENSORI: Andelkovic, Cionek, Goldaniga, Gonzalez, Lazaar, Morganella, Pezzella, Rispoli, Struna, Vitiello. CENTROCAMPISTI: Bolzoni, Brugman, Chochev, Cristante, Hiljemark, Jajalo, Maresca, Quaison. ATTACCANTI: Balogh, Djurdjevic, Gilardino, Trajkovski, Vazquez. Balogh and Cionek both in the squad for the first time, I don't expect either to play. I suspect Cionek is merely defensive cover (he has never played in Serie A before), and Balogh is still very young. Cristante made a last minute appearance last week. He's possible for another sub role this week. Rumors a 4-3-3/4-3-1-2 would be used under this coaching staff. Sorrentino Morganella, Gonzalez, Goldaniga, Lazaar Hiljemark, Jajalo, Chochev Vazquez Trajkovski, Gilardino A 3 man defense is also possible, which would see Lazzaar and Morganella push forward, and one of those 3 CMs substituted for Andelkovic. ----------- Palermo with a winning record against Genoa lately, 4W 3D and 2L, including the home leg back in August, a 1-0 last minute winner from El Kaoutari. However, they haven't won the away leg since at least Spring of 2010. Genoa are currently just 2 points behind Palermo, and 4 points above the relegation zone. This is another crucial match for Palermo. We need to beat the teams we're competing against for safety. A win puts Palermo on 24 points, theoretically as high as tied on points with 11th place, (assuming none of the teams 11-15 win). Viviani with a chance to go down in history as surely a rarity: a Palermo coach without a single loss to his name, as GBS takes over starting next week. ------------- Genoa's main threat continues to be Pavoletti, now with 8 goals. The rest of the team has 12 total. Recently released Luca Rigoni with a chance to start against a club that had pretty well marginalized him upon the emergence of Jajalo, Chocheve and Hiljemark. He had started 31 games in his only other season for Palermo last year. Ezequiel Munoz, who thought himself too good to renew his contract with Palermo, also on the Genoa bench. He only has 5 appearances for them this season. And finally, Genoa is still lead by none other than the great Gian Piero Gasperini, who had not one but two coaching stints in Palermo the season they got relegated, the second lasting just 2 games. He was coach for nearly 2/3rds of that season, and should get the brunt of the blame; he oversaw one of the worst January transfer windows I've ever seen. ------------ Prior to beating Atalanta last week, Genoa had lost 6 in a row. Its a team in trouble, and Palermo can take advantage.
Well, good thing I wasn't awake for this. A 4-0 embarrassment. Here's what I can gather from the match updates: Palermo played a 3-5-2 Sorrentino Goldaniga-Gonzalez-Andelkovic Morganella-Hiljemark-Cristante-Jajalo-Lazaar Trajkovski-Djurdjevic Right here I'll note my conitinued frustration about the Gilardino signing. If he can't do enough to convince any of 3 managers that he ought to be starting, there's a problem. Palermo was 1-0 down almost immediately, in the 4th minute. It remained 1-0 at halftime. There were a lot more mentions of Sorrentino on the official twitter feed than anybody else in the 60th minute, Gilardino comes on for Djurdjevic. in the 59th minute, Andelkovic is sent off for a second yellow, having previously gotten one in the 22nd. At this point, no sub is made, and I can only assume the teams shifted to some sort of 4-3-2 in the 65th minute, Balogh makes his debut, coming on for Cristante, basically a like for like. This goes badly for Palermo and 5 minutes later, its already 3-0. Its made 4-0 in the 88th minute. Palermo makes its final change, with 18 year old Giuseppe Pezzella coming on for Lazaar, a like for like(-ish, he can play on both sides, but is more of a rightback) change. ----------- All in all an ugly day. The red card obviously made this one impossible, but even before that Genoa clearly was on the front foot. Palermo had 3 shots on target to Genoa's 10. Still 6 points clear of the relegation zone, but with nobody in between. And now barely on schedule for 40 points, and the safety it (usually) guarantees.
Viviani, in his infinite wisdom, summarized the game thusly: "the expulsion complicated the match." Viviani sems to be very highly regarded by many in Italy, so I'll trust this was just a bad match, but with an untested coach coming in, this is a very nervous position to be in.