Verrengia injured, Bettella bruised and still in doubt, Bashi never taken into consideration and Pohjanpalo arrives on Saturday. Maybe it’s not a real emergency because Aquilani still has the material to compose a three-man defense, but Catanzaro’s back pack is not going through a good moment: the performances say so, if you then add the unavailability of individuals the picture becomes more worrying.
Against second-placed Palermo, a superb performance will be needed to emerge unscathed: the Giallorossi have conceded goals in six out of eight matches, the exceptions being the away games in Liguria against bottom-ranked Spezia and derelict Sampdoria, that is, the teams that are worse off than all of them together with Bari. It is true that Pippo Inzaghi’s battleship has not been a particular goal-scoring machine so far, he has scored 10 which seems like a minimum figure for a group with so much potential, but the mere presence of the Finnish striker (four goals so far) cannot help but worry: imagine Pohjanpalo face to face with Pigliacelli as happened three times in Lasagna del Padova… forget certain tendernesses, beyond the skill of the Giallorossi goalkeeper. And after the Scandinavian center forward we must include Brunori in search of his first goal of the season, the strongest offensive midfielder in Serie B who has the surname of Palumbo, a “reserve” like Le Douaron and a midfielder with a flair for goal that is rarely equalized like Segre, who scored in the last season against Modena and struck against “Ceravolo” in the two previous championships.
The injury that will leave Verrengia in the infirmary at least until December wasn’t necessary, because in a three-man defense he is the only left-footed central defender. In his place will be Di Chiara, who however has played as a full-back for a lifetime and in that position has often seemed uncomfortable if attacked strongly: certain “times” do not assimilate in a few weeks. Bettella could also be deployed on the centre-left, but in the meantime he was out of action last week and even if he trained with his teammates yesterday he remains in doubt. Without forgetting that in the only test in that position, against Juve Stabia, he also showed limitations. Brighenti and Antonini are the other two central defenders to spend: the first as always on the centre-right and the Brazilian in the heart of the trio.
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