Genoa – First of all the injuries, too many. And then the market stopped. They are the ones holding Sampdoria back a lot. Think of the complete team, perhaps perfected with two pieces in the right place. And that would be a whole different story. But while waiting for the infirmary to begin to empty and for some exits to unlock the income, there is an aspect that the coach and players can influence to change the course. And Pirlo is very clear about it: «The only way is to work to avoid mistakes». Especially those individual amnesias, often fatal, which cost so many points.
It also happened in Venice. Even with 8 absent, the Blucerchiati made it clear that they could play, even with 10 men. Because between the quality of some individuals, the imprint given to the team by the coach and the group's desire not to give up, Samp have put many positive aspects on the field. However, these were nullified by personal errors of evaluation. We made life difficult for ourselves”, observes the coach. Falls that cannot be afforded, even more so against a big team like Venezia.
The saga of fatal mistakes, between reiterations alternating with redemptions, has distant origins. The first two defeats, against Pisa and Venezia in the first leg, were influenced by Stankovic's blunders, the ball given to Tramoni against Pisa and the uncertainty over Tessmann's free kick against the lagoon players. Price to pay for a young goalkeeper, decisive in a positive way on other occasions. Of course, in these 20 days there have also been many blunders in the scoring area. “We have always created a lot even if sometimes it was less successful,” Pirlo recalled to Penzo. And the three goals scored by Vanoli's team, without Esposito, Pedrola and Borini, confirm it. But the results so far have been mainly affected by defensive slips and naivety, which were decisive for Doria's 9 defeats.
In the 1-2 draw against Cittadella, Pedrola was careless in marking the equalizer and Giordano was anticipated by Magrassi. In Como, Ioannou scored the winning goal all alone at the far post, a film that will be seen again in Brescia with Jallow's opening goal. With Catanzaro (1-2), Borini deceives with a penalty, but there is an equalizer immediately, with a harmless cross from Vandeputte: Ghilardi heads the ball and disorientates Stankovic, who is not very reactive. And Brignola scores the overtaking in the 45th minute an action full of Dorian errors with the highlight of Delle Monache being overtaken in the area by Iemmello in an assist-man version.
The sixth setback in Bolzano, 3-1 for the hosts. At Druso, Gonzalez broke the deadlock but did not block Odogwu in the area, a marking flaw that would recur in the Italian Cup in Salerno and in Reggio Emilia on Portanova's goal which however did not ruin the Blucerchiati's celebration at Mapei. Returning to Bolzano, Sudtirol goes ahead with a very generous penalty but in the action Ghilardi does not close the gap to Merkaj and is forced into a risky intervention.
In Brescia, at Pirlo's house, we see Doria's worst first half: after Jallow, Borrelli shows for the 2-0 with Gonzalez who lets himself get jumped too easily. And then Facundo's omelette for the 3-0 of the former Bjarnason (Giordano will score the winning goal) with an advance insisted by the defense and the ball lost badly with the team unbalanced forward. A heavy lightness that the Uruguayan repeated against Bari, in the action of Sibilli's goal, equalized at the last minute by Esposito on the evening of Boxing Day.
Postponed Christmas present, following those brought forward for the Feralpisalò on 23 December. In the first 22 minutes, they paid for the problem of crosses conceded too easily (which also resurfaced in Venice), culminating in goals from Bergonzi and Butic. And then Kasami's elbow when Esposito had reopened the match: the blow is light, Kourfalidis accentuates but the gesture is wicked and forces Doria into numerical inferiority for over an hour, with the Swiss then punished with a three-match disqualification. Against Feralpisalòas will then happen at Penzo, Samp shows heart, organization and compactness and grabs the equalizer even with 10 men but thwarts it with another free cross which gives rise to Zennaro's somewhat lucky goal.
This is how we arrive at Penzo. Pirlo is forced to work miracles to field a competitive 11, with 8 absent. He succeeds because Samp is playing for it. A short clearance from Ghilardi and poor general reactivity favored Pohjanpalo's 1-0. Benedetti as an attacking midfielder proved to be the right choice and scored the 1-1 on the half hour mark. It could be the goal that changes the inertia but Ricci ruins everything and gives away a penalty that will have reminded Pirlo of the warning of his master Mazzone: «Slippery player, dangerous player». The 2-1 makes Doria nervous. Benedetti gets the first yellow to make up for a tackle by Ricci and gets the second immediately afterwards: he was careless in his intervention on Zampano and Dionisi was taxing. Stojanovic lets Johnsen cross freely and Giordano misses Pohjanpalo at 3-1, a scene that will be repeated at Busio's 4-3 (with the complicity of Stankovic) after the unexpected 3-3 draw for Sampdoria. Finally Ricci, again, who messes up in the area for the 5-3. Fatal errors, not to be repeated, starting from Friday against Parma.
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