Beautiful things from the world (of football).
Yes, Atalanta is in for the Scudetto. The very bald guy here doesn’t say it, the facts say it. After all, Gasp remained in Bergamo precisely to attempt the impossible. Which is no longer so impossible. We are faced with yet another Percassi management masterpiece, probably the best regardless of the result, because it was born in difficulty: does Scamacca end up knocked out? Retegui arrives. Koopmeiners runs away? Bellanova, Brescianini and Samardzic arrive. Are weighty supporting actors needed? Alè with Rui Patricio and Cuadrado. Here, for the first time the Goddess is on a mission “right away” and doesn’t think “let’s see how it goes”. He believes in it and does very well. And today it has the deepest and most complete squad of all, even in the reserves: Retegui, Lookman and De Ketelaere leave at the Olimpico, Samardzic, Brescianini and Zaniolo enter. Result: victory, the eighth in a row. What do you want to tell him: phenomena.
Conte and Marotta tease each other. These are typical skirmishes between title contenders. Last year in Conte’s place there was Allegri, now it’s the turn of the former Nerazzurri manager who says things like: “Inter has two teams and three-quarters, we’re talking about cosmic nothingness”. However, here the donkey falls: if Is Antonio so convinced that Inter are unattainable, why did he abandon them in a hurry (and with severance pay) in 2021? He was certain that the squad was no longer up to par, but today he is convinced that it is unattainable. Curious.
The truth is that no one would be satisfied with a possible second place: Marotta and Inzaghi certainly wouldn’t do it, but neither would Conte (“Second place is the first of the losers, it means nothing to me” he said on 22 July 2020) and they wouldn’t rejoice not even Fonseca, Motta and Gasperini. They are all in the running to win, some admit it, some don’t. This too is strategy.
Here, Motta. The crucifixions have begun in the canteen against the Juventus coach, master of draws. Is Juve exciting? Of course not, but it couldn’t be otherwise. Injuries are almost always alibis for technicians who are not too capable, but in this case we are talking about half the team in the pits and a squad built too lightly. Not having an alternative to the starting striker is something never seen before in Juventus, spending over 35 million on a player who is certainly very strong but also very fragile (Nico) is a grave sin, let alone 50 for the missing Douglas Luiz. The problem is not Thiago Motta making do with what he has, but a mix of bad luck and bad choices that will force the Juventus management to invest heavily in January as well. And Giuntoli’s words (“the declared objective is to be in the top four”) are too little “Juventus” to be digested.
Milan found a good balance. Fonseca had to get upset, but in the end he managed to bring order to a potentially very strong team. And he did it in time, because the season is still long. Even the beautiful victories against Empoli and Sassuolo are not enough to think that everything is settled, but they are enough to understand that the tactical approach is certainly that of the latest outings, woe betide you if you change it again.
Roma is all about the typo that appeared on their attacker’s shirt. Dobvik instead of Dovbyk. Do you think it’s a coincidence? An error by the company that supplies the jackets? Maybe, but it is also the symbol of a society that at the moment seems devoid of guidance. On the pitch he relies on a giant like Ranieri and that’s already a lot, but without a strong and attentive club behind him it’s hard to bring order.
Finally, a few words about Edo Bove. Things went well and that’s really all that matters. Let’s add another one. Situations like the one that happened in Florence, unfortunately, are not that rare. And we remember them all. Compared to the past, some things have changed and on Sunday (but not only Sunday) we saw this very well:
– Timely reaction.
– The players who act as a “shield”.
– The tools: fundamental and immediately available.
– The rescue machine that works properly.
Here, what is now “normality” was once not normal at all. From this point of view, fortunately, football has learned from its mistakes. And three days after the scare we can smile thinking about Fiorentina who are back on the pitch today also for their Edo.