The goals he didn’t score in the first part of the season he will do in the second. “If he plays like this it doesn’t worry me,” Fabio Caserta explained when speaking about Filippo Pittarello in the post-Salernitana period. Still a striker without a goal, in the last three games he has sent interesting signals, along the lines of those at the beginning of the season. And against the Campania team, definitely one of the best on the pitch.
The twenty-eight year old from Veneto has left behind the somewhat negative period between October and November, in which he played and made little impact, losing positions in the department’s hierarchies. Now he is clearly recovering, last Sunday he was uncontainable at times, but he also proved to be important in Cosenza and, as a substitute, against Spezia. In short, he is once again being appreciated for what he is: a center forward who a few months ago was chased by many (Spezia was also on him) and for whom Catanzaro will pay up to one million 200 thousand euros to the Cittadella including bonus, becoming the most expensive purchase of the summer campaign.
«A very important club asked us for a very important striker for us, but we told him no»sporting director Polito had revealed after the match against Salernitana. Everyone thought he was referring to Biasci (an offer from Brescia also arrived for him, which was rejected) but instead it was Pittarello himself. Who requested it? One of the most renowned and ambitious clubs even if in crisis like Palermo: the Sicilians have received a two of spades and it is not the first they have received from Catanzaro, remembering those in a couple of previous transfer windows for Vandeputte. If Palermo, which has Henry and Brunori in its squad, is still testing the waters for Pittarello, the boy’s value is not in question.
Maybe Filippo won’t score tons of goals, but someone like him who brings the team up, is always ready to duel with the opposing defenders and – often – to stop him you have to bring him down is a precious resource. Last year, for example, the Eagles would have been served like hotcakes in the second round. Now that Catanzaro has him, the intention to deprive him does not exist, unless a club manages to offer crazy sums that could be reinvested (but it’s difficult for that to happen in January).
The other reason not to give it up is the same as every winter: those who have tips of a certain type keep them tight. Even from this perspective, the comparison with a year ago can be useful: just remember the difficulties in arriving at a structured attacker, who in fact was missing for the remainder of the tournament.
With Salernitana Pittarello was more involved in the game according to the Opta data collected by fbref.com: he touched 37 balls (Iemmello, for example, stopped at 19), shot four times, three of which between the posts (half of shots on target from Catanzaro), won three aerial duels out of five (less only than Scognamillo and Antonini), in any case the best since he became Giallorossi.
To the numbers we add a post and the movement – also fundamental – with which he took away an opponent on Pontisso’s heel and Iemmello’s goal-cutting goal. Yes, it’s another Pittarello. And for the personal seal it is a matter of time.
