There isn’t the aura around him that surrounded Vivarini, but he didn’t even have to overcome the skepticism that had greeted Caserta. It’s not that there was a lack of expectations when he arrived, because a former top-level footballer who has strong and clear ideas even as a coach implies certain things almost automatically. Even more so if he espouses the same line of thought – “player” just to simplify – with which the club he joined wrote a central page in its recent history, returning to Serie B with a record and facing the playoffs for Serie A in the following two years.
With nine days to go before the end of the regular season, it is clear that Alberto Aquilani did not limit himself to achieving his declared mission: consolidating the category with a quiet salvation has been a practice that has been on file practically since December, now all that remains is to secure the playoffs with the best possible placement. As if it were little. But the 41-year-old Roman coach has done much more and has earned everything he is getting.
As? With work on a group renewed for a good half and shaped in his image and likeness. That image that has changed compared to July and August, given that the coach has adapted to the characteristics of his players, has changed some things since the start, has put others aside and has grown as a team capable of alternating strategies and tactical attitudes without giving up the basic principles.
“I went through a tornado,” he said a couple of weeks ago, referring to the first eight games without a win. He came out of that tornado in a big way: his signature is on fifth place as well as on the record of consecutive victories (five) that Catanzaro had never achieved in a single Serie B tournament.
The results are fundamental, but those are the consequence of the game – recognizable, effective and pleasant – and of many other aspects.
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