Cagliari-Torino

By: Jeremy | February 27th, 2009

For those teams that are still hoping to slide into a UEFA Cup spot via a 7th place finish in Serie A, this is another week where you cannot let up, especially if you are playing a team you are supposed to beat.

Unlike last week where we played Milan on the road where realistically not much of a result was expected, we get Torino at home this weekend. While arguably we should have gotten points in that game against Milan, its games against teams like Torino that determine whether we can stay in the hunt for a top spot. Torino sits just outside the relegation zone and has not won on the road all year. Cagliari has been strong all year at home and despite Torinos nice win at home to Udinese last weekend, we have to get the full three points to keep the overall season long momentum going.

Despite our strong performance this season, we seem to be hitting a wall as there is some pressure to continue winning regularly because its rare that the team is sniffing a European spot. We cant just roll over because we have likely met our seasons objective of survival. Last weeks performance against Milan was dreadful as the strikers did nothing. This was especially worrisome as we played a weakend Milan team who was even worse then us in that game. The game before that against Lecce was another poorly played game and this was after a loss to Atalanta. Three games in a row we have looked like relegation fodder yet we still find ourselves in seventh place.

Torino is similar to Cagliari in all aspects in that their talent is a little light, they are up and down in their play(mostly down), and they are barely surviving year to year. This year is just another typical year for them but they still are dangerous and with some motivation can win this weekend. Considering they are for the most part healthy and in good spirits after last weeks win, they will head to Sardinia looking to build some momentum.

The question is which Cagliari team is going to show up? Is it the team that has looked great in wins against big teams like Juve, Fiorentina, and Lazio, or is it the team that took two games off at home against Atalanta and Lecce followed by a very unmotivated game against Milan. Torino is better then Lecce so we must step it up to get a win.

Which player will make a difference for us? Acquafresca is due for a big game and even Jeda will be looking to amp up his game a bit. Biondini will need to play better then he did last week and Marchetti will have to turn in another great performance. Everyone seems healthy so a strong lineup combined with a home crowd in the slowly warming weather should hopefully provide all the ingrediants for a good result.

With improved performances come increased expectations and Cagliari fans are wanting more from this team. Where the past three games wouldnt cause too much second guessing in past years, they are not what we are looking for if we want the rest of the season to mean anything. Coach Allegri still has the magical 40 points as his first priority and it might take that one win to get us there which would then in turn make us think about what could be. A lot still has to happen but we have to get past the mindset of being a bottom level club. We are not quite there yet but a win this weekend could give us that push to win games in the future we are not expected to win.

I see this game as very similar to the Lecce game. The pressure is on us and we will want to keep Torino from getting too active and involved in the game. The end result is that we will play tight and probably not do enough to show that we can play some exciting football on a regular basis, but there is still a mental block with this team when it comes to getting them to believe that this could be a special season. All that being said, I still think we eek out another win, but Allegri is going to have to figure out how to get some motivation going for the tougher matches that are soon to come.

Prediction

Cagliari 1-0 Torino