Crushed in the Coppa; Juve Up Next

By: Jeremy | September 18th, 2008

Got nothing going on with your club? No wins. No points. Well lets head on over to Reggina for the round of 16 in the Coppa. Maybe we can build a little confidence against a fellow relegation struggler while also giving ourselves a chance to move to the next round. Well, guess again.

Lets look at the lineups for the supposed to be exciting game:

REGGINA: Puggioni, Alvarez, Cosenza (80′ Lanzaro), Santos, Toscano, Khoris, Viola, Hallfredsson, Sestu (47′ Brienza), Stuani (76′ Adejo), Ceravolo. In panchina Marino, Di Gennaro, Squillace, Rakic.

CAGLIARI: Lupatelli, Matheu, Astori, Bianco, Magliocchetti, Fini (66′ Pani), Burrai, Parola (74′ Ragatzu), Lazzari, Matri (55′ Jeda), Acquafresca.

Cagliari clearly wanted to look at some players who dont play much yet also took the game seriously enough to play Acquafresca for the full 90. After a scoreless first half, Reggina blew in four goals in the second half to win 4-0 and basically make the Coppa a non issue for us. Young Ragatzu got to see a little action and we also witnessed Mattheus first appearance for us, but with the health of Canini and Conti in serious question after the Siena game, we almost fielded our strongest possible lineup yet still got killed. Not good.

Now dont get me wrong, I was not expecting to win the Coppa, and any game on the road is tough, but we cannot get crushed by Reggina 4-0 in any game. This is a serious indication that our talent and performance level clearly puts us in the bottom three of Serie A. I saw the Lazio game as an unfair way to judge the team and the Siena game was call or two from being a different outcome, but this game was terrible. Maybe the pressure is starting to get to the players and Allegri has to be feeling the heat more so with each passing game. We made fun of Palermo for firing their manager after one game, but they knew we sucked and if they didnt grab Ballardini, Cellino would soon be on the phone to him. Great crazy minds think alike.

So what is next for our beloved Isolani? How about a little ass kicking in Sardinia courtesy of Juventus. Did I mention I hate Juventus? Like them or not, they are playing well to start the year. They drew with Fiorentina in a game they should have won and beat Udinese, another top quality side. Cagliari to them will look like a vacation weekend.

Andrade and Zanetti may be missing for Juve this weekend, but this is basically a full strength team feeling pretty confident. After 2 tough early games, this game should be a welcome break. Cagliari not only lacks talent on the level of Juve, but Canini and Conti may not play as they were clearly banged up in last weeks game in Siena. The good news is that Acquafresca can play a full 90 and we have to put out an attacking lineup and take chances this weekend. Lets hope we see an Acquafresca partnership with Larrivery with Jeda and Matri in support. If any of them arent running, bring in young Ragatzu. Although he was part of the defense that gave up four to Reggina mid week, Mattheu gets his first Serie A action. Lets hope Marchettis return to goal combined with the crowd at home gives us a better performance.

While you dont want to read too much into one game, the more you say that after each loss, the more you realize your team isnt that good. With the injury concerns we have combined with the bad start, seeing Juve this weekend is not a good thing, but we might as well get beaten by them while we are down. We played them tight in an early season match last year we should have won so an inspiring performance is not out of the question. I just dont see it and Allegri is that much closer to the unemployment line.

Something about that Reggina loss really has me feeling negative when I have tried to be optimistic so far. We need to turn things around quick, but this is not the weekend unfortunately.

Prediction

Cagliari 0-3 Juventus