Zero minutes in Genoa, the last assist dating back to October 20th and only one goal of the season, among other things from a penalty: these are Nikola Vlasic’s numbers when we have almost reached the halfway point of the championship. The Croatian’s crisis seems to be the same as that of Toro, who has been in free fall for two months now and is forced to reverse course to avoid major risks. And an immediate shock is also expected from the former West Ham player, considering that until some time ago he was a real driving force. The problem is that he is slipping further and further back in the hierarchies, Paolo Vanoli’s post-Marassi message does not bode well: “Vlasic was fine and not playing him was a tactical choice because it was a dirty match, I wanted to touch the midfield as little as possible because he worked very well and I didn’t want to lose balance” revealed the coach. Yet the result was stuck at 0-0, not exactly what was aimed for on the eve of the match. And the class of 1996, at least at the starting line, had to be one of the technical leaders of the Bull, also considering the monstrous investment of around 13 million euros in the summer of 2023.
Furthermore, the club had also decided to give him the number 10 shirt, which has always and everywhere been the heaviest shirt and with something magical about it. “It’s special and I like it a lot, it was free and I really wanted it” he revealed this summer, when he was still stuck in the pits. He only saw himself again at the end of September, his impact was amazing with two assists and a goal in his first three appearances, then he got stuck and the numbers are still the same, even though two months have passed. So there are also those who blame this real curse of the 10 of Taurus: in recent years it has passed on the shoulders of the Serbians Radonjic and Lukic up to Iago Falque, Ljajic and the “second” Immobile, in addition to the meteors Gojak, Barreto and Iunco, just to mention those from the last decade. And no one has ever really managed to exalt themselves with that number and that t-shirt, some more and some less. Vlasic, now, must also overcome this challenge: Toro needs the best version of the Croatian to get out of the crisis.