Quick Season Preview and Livorno Week 1

By: Jeremy | August 22nd, 2009

Is it me or did the summer go by too fast? Is it really time to start another season of Serie A? I guess it is and while I have been waiting for that last minute transfer(maybe a Juventus youngster named Lorenzo Ariaudo to help in the back) that may bolster our team, it is time to get ready for some matches as week one begins this weekend on the road against Livorno.

For those of you who care about the Coppa Italia, and we should, we quietly got bounced this week in the third round against Triestina, a decent team, but not of Serie A quality. Say what you want, but that is disappointing and should not happen if the team is ready to begin the season. Not an omen I hope.

There have been a few changes in the offseason most notably the loss of Acquafresca who has now made his way to Atalanta. He has been replaced by Brazilian Nene, last seasons Portuguese leading goal scorer, who the team hopes will mesh with countrymen Jeda to form a nice attack. Nene is for some reason slowly adapting to his new team and Allegri is clearly not going to see what we need from him immediately. We have also added Empoli youngster Mazzoratti who will hopefully motivate fellow defender Canini to improve. Matheu has returned to Argentina. We have also added Barone from relegated Torino who will give Conti support and experience in the midfield which could end up being a team strength if Sivakov can show some talent. Mario Brkljaca, the Croatian who signed when Barone did, receives less attention but could end up helping in the midfield as well. Fini has gone to Siena and while he is getting old, he was a good player for Cagliari who will be missed if one of these new midfielders does not emerge. Bianco has joined Acquafresca in Atalanta. Overall we have added some players needed to replace our losses, but I still wonder if we are missing something, likely in attack.

Lets look at each area of the team and see what could be our strengths and weaknesses….

Coach
Allegri returns to Cagliari after leading Cagliari to a ninth place(should have been higher) finish in his first year. He survived the standard wooing that any young coach with success gets, but he is where he needs to be at this stage of his career. The early season loss to Triestina does not bode well for his preparation mindset. If the team gets off to a bad start, I think it is on him this year. They need to be competitive right away.

Goalie
Marchetti is to goalies as Allegri is to coaches and we are lucky to have him back. He is the top young goalie in Italy and will soon start getting more national team exposure. He should be even better for us this year and will win us some games other goalies do not. His performance in the back will say a lot about how well we do.

Defense
Still a maligned group headed by Diego Lopez who comes back to anchor the defense for one more year. He offers experience and is true Rossoblu in his loyalties, but age is making him mediocre at best. Canini and Mazzoratti are young and have talent but they need to step it up. Agostini should see more playing time and Pisano will get his chance, but there is an open spot and one reason why the Juve youngster is on the radar. This is a weak area for the team but there is real potential and it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Midfield
With Conti coming back and still being our leader, combined with Barone, a player of similar style and experience, we have the leadership needed to control the midfield. If Biondini plays like he did last year and continues to show his energy, along with probably our best player, Cossu, back again in the attacking midfield role, this is our teams strength. Watch how the midfield is controlled and you will see the attackers get more oportunities to score. Sivakov might see some time but Lazzarri is the likely player to get the occasional start and be the super sub. He played great for us last year. Brkljaca is unknown but he will fight Sivakov for the spot after Lazzarri. Depth is needed in midfield and we seem to have it.

Attack
I am really uncertain about the team simply because of the unknown that exists with this group. Acquafrescas loss will be tough, but the team stepped up and bought Nene. He can finish, but he seems to he having a tough time adjusting. Its early but we have placed our goal scoring on him and if he cant be Acquafresca or better, we could be in for a lot of losing 1-0 or boring 0-0 draws. Yuck. Jeda is back and will be the dominant forward until Nene steps up. Matri is still around and will get some starts over Nene until he is ready. A Jeda/Matri attack is not that good. Larrivey is also back from loan lingering around and I dont want to see him on the field. Youngster Ragatzu is another year older and I would like to see him get a chance when Nene and Jeda are not playing. We need to develop this guy. Lots of talent up front, but lots of question marks and inconsistent play which does not bode well for Serie A success. The ball needs to go in the net and it does not matter how well you pass the ball around and dominate in the midfield if you cant score. Fans need to hope for something up front to click or frustration will soon set in.

As with all small teams who manage to survive another year in Serie A, there are new faces and lots of excitment with not too much expectation. The goal is to survive even if we think we can hit Europe because of last years performance. What will make the uncertainty even more interesting is the bottom part of the table is improved over last year. Hopefully we can ease relegation talk with a fast start, but if we lose our first five games, we are in trouble.

So where does the season begin , but in Livorno against a team making its return to Serie A after one year hiatus in Serie B. When you think Livorno, you think Lucarelli. He is to them as Gigi Riva is to us. He is their goal scorer and their success will be based on him. They are in the relegation mix so an early season road game against a relegation team is very important even in week one. I dont know much about this team but they have their own turmoil as they have injuries and we will not see their top team this weekend. This can only help us.

If you remember 2007-08 when we opened in Napoli, a team just returning to Serie A, we opened on the road and destroyed them and had their own fans booing them off the pitch. We are a better team now and there is no reason why this cant happen at Livorno.

With Nene not yet in form, we will see the Jeda/Matri attack. Biondini is injured in midfield so Lazzarri will likely have to step in. An early game on the road will make the experience of Barone and Conti all the more important. Cagliari will look to slow the game down, control the midfield, and take the fans out of the game. Hopefully a surprise goal will lead us to victory.

Early season matches are very unpredictable, especially between on the surface closely matched teams talent wise. At this point it will be exciting to just get back in the thrill of the season. If Allegri really is a good coach, there will be a quick start to the season and I think it begins this weekend.

Prediction

Livorno 1-2 Cagliari