Marassi will also serve to test the progress made in the defensive phase. The match against Carrarese gave Catanzaro the first match of the season with a clean sheet, which is always a healthy aspect not only for the obviousness of at least avoiding defeat, but also for the impact it can have on the overall mood of the locker room. Just ask any defender or goalkeeper how much it matters: they will all answer the same way, in a positive sense, regardless of the team’s DNA, which may be more or less devoted to attacking.
Pigliacelli had been punctured twice in the Italian Cup by Sudtirol, three by Vicenza, two more by Pisa and again by Sudtirol, nine goals conceded in the four official matches, of which seven in the three championship games, which had signaled the need to fix more than one thing behind, between preventive and set-piece markings, attention and individual interventions. There was no shortage of risks against Carrarese, on the only two occasions created by the Tuscans (Abiuso one-on-one with Pigliacelli in the first half and Marconi’s double post in the second half), Catanzaro also went well, but progress was made precisely due to the limited and mostly episodic number of risks allowed: in one case the premise was an error in disengagement by Iemmello, which triggered a transition, while in the second the invention of two opposing players (Schiavi and Marconi). However, nothing structural. Previously, only in Bolzano had the Giallorossi conceded less, but paradoxically the little they had left to Sudtirol had been paid dearly for. In Pisa and Vicenza, however, the “holes” were larger, more evident and numerous.
The trip to Genoa can therefore be a new gauge on the health of the Eagles’ defensive system. Not for the vitality of Sampdoria, last in the standings with Carrarese and fresh from three knockouts in a row, but because the water in their throats will force the Blucerchiati to give something more to try to get out of the crisis. Among other things, driven by over twenty thousand spectators who can turn into an added value, a bit like the ten thousand of Vicenza were in the comeback suffered on the first day: resisting, proving to be more confident and cohesive, in the sense of having achieved more compactness and harmony in the mechanisms without the ball, seems to be a fundamental condition against a team that is a work in progress even more than Catanzaro. And he doesn’t lack personality and quality: that of Insigne above all, but also watch out for Tutino and the Belgian Verschaeren, a talented offensive director that Samp acquired from Anderlecht.
For Ruggero, Antonini and Imperiale or Verrengia, without forgetting Candela who is giving good answers, it might not be an easy afternoon. At the same time it could become less complicated if the step forward made last Saturday against Carrarese is confirmed. Victories help, not conceding goals is also good.
Iemmello, Pafundi and company will have to think about the rest. Samp have scored eight goals so far, one more than Catanzaro. If Gorgone and his team have to worry about not taking any, imagine the Ligurians who have started the season in a terrible way.
