Venice – Gli final applause from around 2,000 Blucerchiati supporters present yesterday afternoon at the Penzo they addressed to Sampdoria were the deserved “moral” reward for a near miss. Coming back from two goals short doesn't happen to everyone. Even more so when you already take the field without 7 starters, including suspensions and injuries (Esposito, Borini, Kasami, Vieira, Ferrari, Gonzalez and Pedrola). But those applause remain the only positive note of the ninth defeat of the season, which sparked Andrea Pirlo's self-criticism at the end of the match: «The episodes were decisive, but they were always our mistakes». Starting from the lightness with which the opponents were granted scoring opportunities, «since the beginning of the season we have been working on aggression so as not to let the side balls cross and instead every time we let them stop and then kick». To continue with that sliding entry into the area by Ricci on Johnsen, “which not even a defender would do” and which generated the 2-1 penalty.
To continue with the impetuosity with which Benedetti, already booked, intervened on Zampano in midfield, leaving the team with 10 men from the 44th minute of the first half, with the result 2-1. Determining expulsion, as Kasami's was with Feralpisalò. Pirlo is right when he says that with eleven against eleven it would have been another match and that Sampdoria, up until Benedetti's red card and beyond Ricci's naivety in the penalty area, had appeared toned and reactive. Faced with a Venezia that has the qualities to compete for direct promotion, placed on the pitch in a mirror 4-3-2-1 by Vanoli, with the codified movements of Lella on the right and Zampano on the left who tried to put Sampdoria's defensive line struggled, resulting in numerical superiority. The match was crazy, with the result coming back into question when it seemed to have been decided. After Pohjanpalo's 3-1 in the 13th minute of the second half, few would have bet a penny on a Dorian comeback.
And instead Venezia settled down, he started dribbling, even with the goalkeeper, and Sampdoria came out. He is good at always facing the difficulties of confrontation with courage. Pirlo always tried to keep two tall players in support of De Luca, in a sort of 3-3-3. Attitude rewarded by the center forward's great goal in the 20th minute and then by Depaoli's winning header in the 26th minute. Here, another characteristic of this crazy comparison was the repetition of impactful one-twos. Which also involve the management aspect of the comparison. Less than 6' passed between Benedetti's 1-1 and Pohjanpalo's 2-1 penalty, and here we were in numerical parity. The Blucerchiati, yesterday deployed as an attacking midfielder, collected two yellow cards in 2'08”, a record-breaking span. 6'24” passed between De Luca's 3-2 and Depaoli's 3-3. But there was practically no time to enjoy the joy and start dreaming about the profiles of the feat to remember because even in this case the equal result did not last very long, Busio brought Venezia back ahead after just 2'54”. And Ellertsson scored Venezia's fifth goal after 2'45”. Crazy match, which once again invites reflection on the too many naiveties committed and it's not the first time.
AND keeps the “accident case” alive, «if we hadn't had so many, the team would have been very competitive for Serie B» Pirlo's words. Who on Friday evening against league leaders Parma at Ferraris will only recover Gonzalez but will lose Benedetti due to disqualification. As for the rankings, the defeat in Venice did not change the balance, the points away from the eighth place (Modena and Brescia) were and remain 5. And if, as is known, not much can be expected from the market, then it will be the timing of the comebacks of the injured with the duty and power to impact the quality of Pirlo's squad. The important thing in this difficult moment is to continue to keep the octaves in our sights, then we'll see. The Doria fans left the Penzo singing. And it starts again from them. —
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