It is no coincidence that Catanzaro began to win when it found the key to improving defensive performance, in the sense of the general ability to protect itself better than it did before. And this goes beyond the committed players, who have also changed. The match in Monza, with two goals conceded from inside the small area, and the subsequent home defeat against Padova, led Aquilani to introduce some measures – in the formation, in the attitude, in the interpreters – which are proving to be fundamental.
The first and indicative test was against Palermo: an extra midfielder added substance in the middle, facilitating the non-possession phase and also the task of the two teammates – no longer alone -, while the choice to wait lower for the opponent, to reduce depth as much as possible, proved decisive. So the Sicilians built very little and Catanzaro avoided the backward runs in the open field which had been a sore point in several previous matches.
With the rosanero, moreover, Aquilani also seems to have found the right synthesis between the characteristics of the defenders: Cassandro on the centre-right because Bettella was injured and Brighenti on the centre-left seem to fit perfectly in the trio with Antonini in the centre. It is obvious that they too need the work of the midfielders and the sacrifice of the full backs (Favasuli and Di Chiara in that case), but if they repeated themselves both in Mantua and, above all, with Venezia, it means that they have what it takes to continue together.
Speaking of Mantua, yet another attitude was used there, because instead of defending low, Aquilani took advantage of the half rest granted to Iemmello to set up a high pressing with the 3-4-2-1 completed by the advanced trio Rispoli, Cisse and Pandolfi: thus the opponent’s initial setup was disturbed and he recovered the ball as far forward as possible, avoiding the risk – as underlined by the coach himself – “of never seeing it again due to the quality of the opponents”. Beyond the opening goal, which was an episodic mix of light-heartedness (Petriccione, partly Antonini) and superlative technical gesture (by Mancuso), that strategy also paid the expected dividends, it being understood that Catanzaro takes some risks and will always take them: it has a vocation for constitutional play in the quality of the players.
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