Cagliari-Genoa..time for a new set up or coach

By: Jeremy | October 22nd, 2009

Riva

Its tough being a fan of a small club. At some point they tease you with a run of good results that make you think they might challenge for a meaningful position in the standings. While almost every club can have a good run or even a season with a remarkable final position, for the most part the team is going to be in the bottom half of the standings with the goal being another year in the top flight.

Despite the year to year position of your club, the beginning of each year can lead to great excitement. That player added under the radar is no doubt going to make the biggest difference in what will be a surprise year and the hot young coach is going to show why he is wanted by all the big clubs.

Sound familiar Cagliari fans?

Last weekends loss to Catania was the latest disappointment against a team that was clearly not as talented but somehow managed to get the points. If we continue to play teams that are not as talented, then why do we keep losing? Could it be someone needs to look in the mirror and realize that the luster has worn off and either you are not as good as you think or you are or not focusing on the task at hand, but instead looking for a bigger place to ply your trade. Yes I am talking about Allegri.

This team is still not right in its set up. While the defense clearly seemed a step slow and a thought late against Catania, there was little to no offensive pressure from Cagliari against a bad team missing many starters. Only a brilliant goal by Dessena gave Cagliari a chance to win but overall it was a bad game.

As we head home to face Genoa, some questions need to be answered and if they cannot be answered against the other smaller clubs, you have to wonder what is going to happen against Genoa, one of Italys better teams.

Genoa is on 13 points after a little rough patch including last weeks humiliation against Inter. Cagliari is on 7 points barely above the relegation zone but now in a position where conventional wisdom says they will be in the bottom three in the next 2-3 weeks if not sooner.

The problem is still the missing striker. It seems clear Allegri will not play Nene. I have no answers as to why but if you buy a Ferrari and dont use it, something is wrong and needs an explanation, especially when you are used to buying Fiats to play for your club.

One good thing about this season has been the find of Dessena. Time to move him to striker. His skill, passion and nose for the goal might turn him in to what we are missing. His move upfront would also allow for a midfield spot to open up to get one of our talented benchwarming midfielders some more action which might lead to another find that can help turn the season around.

Its also time to shake up the defense. The team is slow and lacks leadership but the talented youth can play if put in the right setup. With Canini, Marzoratti, and Astori anchoring the back line combined with benching Lopez and or Agostini and bringing in Barone to lend some real toughness in a back midfielder defense type spot, the team would be better.

If Nene is not going to play, here is what we need to do which is kind of a 3-5-2 type set up
Marchetti
Canini-Marzoratti-Astori
Barone
Conte-Lazzari-Brkljaca
Cossu
Dessena-Jeda
1st sub-Biondini
This set up really does not take away too much of the experience, but the team seems slow and lethargic and needs some toughness and newness. We need to see what kind of player Brkljaca is and that only comes with 90 minutes of play, not 10 minutes here and there. While my first choice is to keep Dessena in midfield and play Nene 90 minutes, we cannot continue to run the Jeda/Matri strikeforce out there with a slow defense and expect to win. Home is the best place to try these changes as the team has done horribly there and the fans need to see that something is being done to shake things up. We all know there is a problem.

Genoa came to Cagliari a couple of years ago and that is when Acquafresca broke out and we started our run toward the miracle survival. Why not start another turnaround against them?

Milito is gone but this is still a very talented team. Last weeks huge loss to Inter was a surprise but they will turn it around and the difference between them and teams like Cagliari is they will use the favorable part of their schedule to get needed points and keep them in the European places. Serie A is very balanced this year however and despite their talent, they could actually end up looking outside of the European positions when the season is over. They have some work to do.

Without some changes, Allegri will soon face some real heat. He thinks he can rest on last years finish and the fact big clubs wanted him. While he would not be out of a job long if fired, Cellino will not hesitate to bring someone in quickly. While we need stability in as many places as possible, Allegri needs to wake up fast. He is not managing correctly and is not getting the right players on the field at the right time. If he makes no changes this weekend, the team will lose. I think he believes its just bad luck as to why Cagliari is losing so many games. This opinion means your team is talented but not being used right. Allegri will get it wrong for just another week and it will take a real crisis mode to make him change. Change is going to come, its just a matter of when.

For now we continue to get frustrated.

Where is Gigi Riva when you need him?

Prediction
Cagliari 1-2 Genoa

Prediction record to date:
3-5