Cagliari-Atalanta

By: Jeremy | February 6th, 2009

After last weekends stunning result, anything that happens this weekend will be a letdown. However, with the teams mindset shifting from surivival to a possible European place, we cannot get too hung up on a great win and must continue to focus on what needs to be done to move up the standings, especially the next two weeks, when we get two home games against teams we should beat.

Any long time Cagliari fan is going to have a hard time switching their mindset from survival mode to qualifying for Europe. Even Allegri is being his modest self when he still says he focuses on getting the six points he feels are needed for surivival. You can bet he wants to play in Europe and is using whatever psycological tool he can to motivate his players to keep winning. Keeping expectations low seems to be his mindgame. The team will have to show some maturity to avoid a letdown this week, even at home against an Atalanta team that has only won one road game this year.

Atalanta is just below Cagliari in the standings and wants to start moving up so they can make a move for Europe. I have always seen this club as a fringe relegation team and I wonder how they manage to finish where they do each year. While they are a little disappointed with their performance this year, they are right where they should be considering the improvement of so many teams in Serie A this year.

We cannot overlook this team though. With star man Doni able to win a game by himself, they are a threat to win this game. Their fans have to be frustrated that they can destroy Inter then have bad results against the likes of Torino and Reggina. They are not giving up on the year as they have added Plasmati from Catania, a nice little player. Lets hope he is still getting used to his new team and wont play much this weekend. One of my alltime Italian favorites, Christian Vieri, plays for this club, but he is basically the Stan Stamenkovic of Serie A at this point in his career. He cant go 90 minutes and shouldnt play this weekend. Despite reports to the contrary, Doni should be in there causing the Cagliari backline many problems.

Now that Cagliari has been winning and playing attractive football, they have emerged on the national scene and some of the players are getting more notice. If we think we will only lose Acquafresca in the offseason, we might be fooling ourselves. This is a good worry to have because it means the team is good so we just have to deal with the rumors that are going to start floating out there.

While Marchetti hasnt been his dominant self as of late, he is still strong in goal. The defense has also improved and Pisano and Canini are going to get looks. Fini in midfield has played well but Biondini, who used to be looked at as more of a team mascot then a serious player, has become not only a good player but arguably our team MVP. His performance against Juve is best understood by people who have a real knowledge of how this game is played. He was fantastic. Jeda is probably getting the most notice as he made Juve look old and slow as he cut through their defense and with Acquafresca, they form one of the better strike partnerships in Serie A. With Matri on a lucky streak and a new Bellorussian midfielder just transferred in from Bate, this team actually has some depth.

What makes this run so amazing is the youth of these players. They are only going to get better and the big teams will soon, if they are not already, be sniffing around to grab them. I can only imagine where we would be if we kept Foggia.

With Cagliaris recent run, the game being at home, and Atalanta being a woeful road team this year, we cannot expect anything other then a Cagliari victory. While they did beat us 1-0 in Bergamo earlier this year, we were at our low point and now the game is in Sardinia.

It is vital we get wins these next two weeks as if we are serious European challengers, you win these games coming up with Atalanta and Lecce on the home ground. The tough games will come later and we have proven we can win them, but the difference between Europe and midtable is games like this. You cant give away points. While survival seems pretty certain at this point, we should continue to change our mindset as fans to get our hopes up for the possibilities that seems to exist. I think the run continues this weekend.

Prediction

Cagliari 2-1 Atalanta