Luciano De Paola (Crotone, 30 May 1961) is an Italian football coach and former footballer, playing a midfielder role.
Luciano De Paolaformer “seven lungs” midfielder of Cagliari, analyzes last Saturday’s match between the rossoblù and Milan, with an eye on the path that awaits Davide Nicola’s eleven in the championship starting next week.
Luciano, how can you decipher a pyrotechnic draw like the one between Cagliari and Milan?
“Milan is a team that makes you play. When you encounter these formations, even if you are a so-called ‘small’ one you can put them in great difficulty. The Rossoneri don’t have the solidity of a team that knows how to defend itself and then strike at the right moment: they only ever think about playing, and this makes it easier for their opponents to win the ball back. Cagliari interpreted the match very well, waiting for Milan to then restart and taking advantage of the individual errors of Theo Hernandez and his teammates.
I repeat, at this moment the Devil is not Napoli, Inter, Juve or Fiorentina: more square and well-placed teams on the pitch. Milan lives on the extemporaneousness and inventions of Leao, on the strength of Theo Hernandez, on the quality of Reijnders in the middle of the pitch. But behind it it’s a lot of effort.”
Maybe Milan concede so many goals because they play with a center of gravity that is too high for the speed of their centre-backs? Not to mention that even the outside players often suffer, because they push and expose themselves a lot.
“There are players who don’t return after they lose possession of the ball. Leao is one of these. And Fonseca doesn’t have a real matchmaker, because in my opinion Fofana is very good but he needs to be supported by the midfielders. As a result, the two central defenders are always systematically in difficulty.
In general, as I said before, Milan always thinks about playing and attacking. In the Italian championship you obviously have to know how to play football, but you also have to have good defensive stability. Cagliari were good, but it was also made easier by the poor balance shown by Fonseca’s boys.”
The rossoblù’s next match, when Serie A resumes, will be against Alberto Gilardino’s Genoa. A difficult clash with an opponent who is clearly struggling. But Luperto and his teammates have demonstrated, albeit in spurts, that they know how to play convincing and effective football both at home and away.
“The matches against Genoa, Empoli, Verona etc. are worth double for Cagliari: the points up for grabs are very heavy. Nicola is a coach who knows how to make the team play well, who himself has good qualities. Having said that, I think that playing well in football is important, but in the end it is the substance that counts. Why is Ranieri a great coach? Because he adapts to the players he has available and, with healthy pragmatism, takes care of the defensive phase very carefully. Nowadays many young coaches insist on always wanting to play, play, play… and then maybe they get some memorable defeats.”