Back on Track..Barely

By: Jeremy | February 16th, 2009

For those of you who seemed concerned that the team might end up on a downward spiral should the team lose to Lecce, after yesterdays performance, your concerns might have been justified. Fortunately, we came away with an unimpressive 2-0 win at home to Lecce. No matter how you analyze it, a win is still a win and while it allows us to go to Milan next week with the same approach we had against Juve, it shows there are still some concerns and that the inconsistency bug might be what keeps this team out of Europe.

While Lecce was never really a threat to do much, the absence of good play from Jeda and Acquafresca made this game a dicey one to watch. Marchetti came up big a couple of times and Fini finished his chance as well he should have, but Lecce was really a bad call away from having this game turn out quite differently. Although it would have been a crappy goal to give up as the defense could not clear the ball allowing a cheap scuff shot to go in, I dont see how the linesman can call offside on that goal Lecce scored disallowing it. It was close, but it was probably a good goal. A break for us. Either way, if Lecce fan wants to complain, they really need to look at the fact they did nothing offensively. Cagliari certainly was not impressive, but being at home and scoring the first goal against an offensively handicapped team is likely going to lead to a win and that is what we got. Lecce has their own problems and lack of talent is why I will be impressed if they survive.

With this win, we are now in 7th place, above a strong group of teams like Palermo and Atalanta et al. With Atalanta thrashing Roma 3-0, it takes some of the concern off our loss to them last week as they are certainly showing they want to move up. Just the latest unpredictabile and inconsistent result by a Serie A team. With Genoa imploding against Fiorentina, they are a team who could still drop down but as you get this high up in the standings, there is simply no room for error if you want to be in Europe. Are we good enough to be there? Its still unclear as there is so much of the season left, but what must give fans hope is that we beat a bottom team like Lecce when we are not at our best. Last weeks lost against Atalanta hurt but still one that must be ignored because of the red card. The Lecce result is the latest sign that Cagliari will get to play some important games later in the season for a place in Europe where anything can happen.

Next up is Milan. Is it a big game? Sure, any game is at this point, but a loss does not destroy what still could be a magical season. If we play like we did against Lecce, we probably will lose by 3 goals, but after their disappointment in the Milan derby and seeing their Scudetto hopes pretty much eliminated, they may not see next week as a meaningful game and we can hope for as much of a slip up by them as they possibly can provide considering they are on another level then us. Beating Lecce allows us to go there with a more relaxed mindset where we could get a result. With Biondini returning and hopefully Jeda and Acquafresca back from their week off in the Lecce game, this could be very similar to the Juve game. With Milan always playing to the level of their opponent and Cagliari often inspired to do something in these kinds of games, dont assume we lose, but dont lose site of the teams overall aspirations if we do.

It continues to be an enjoyable run for this team. Some results will be ugly like against Lecce, and some will bring you to tears like Juve, but for the first time in a long time, we are in a position to play some games that will bring a different kind of nervous gut renching feeling then we are used to as they wont be for safety, but for a place in Europe that could help make this team a more respected Serie A member. Its still early, but its a great position to discuss versus the typical year of analyzing what we need to do just to survive.