There are starting to be many points thrown away by Catanzaro against the so-called small teams. The two left with Pescara last Friday are the tip of the iceberg for the naive way in which the 3-3 goal was achieved, but the episode rightfully fits into the wake of the errors that allowed the other two goals to the Abruzzo team. The list is longer and includes the penalty given by Iemmello to Empoli and the serial banalities – structural and individual – which had also made the task easier for Mantova who were then beaten and for the others – provincial or simply in crisis – encountered before. Thinking back to the ferocious application shown against Palermo, and the same determination combined with a bit of luck against Venezia, it is normal to wonder which of its two faces Catanzaro will offer on Saturday against Entella for the second consecutive round at the “Ceravolo” (5.30 pm).
If Aquilani’s team is still stuck in mid-table, the reason is this fundamental contradiction of a group capable of suffering and withstanding the impact against the big teams, but which is also not up to its superiority – presumed at the moment – when faced with the “small” teams, a category that includes those who are elite due to status, objectives or even just the need of the moment. The cause? Probably the blanket is still short when you don’t just have to defend and restart as happened with the big teams, even in the first half in Monza.
Of the eight that are behind Catanzaro in the ranking, Iemmello and his teammates faced six of them and managed to beat just one, Mantova away. The rest are four draws between Sudtirol and Pescara at home, Spezia and the fearful Sampdoria away, in addition to the home defeat against Padova.
Broadening the picture also to those in front, Carrarese did not steal anything in Calabria, Juve Stabia was in the spotlight for a while and it is not certain that they would have let themselves be recovered from 0-2 to 2-2 if they had not been left with the man less, Reggiana ended up grabbed by a magic free-kick from Cisse, while Empoli simply exploited individual ingenuity and overall abulia, winning with minimal effort. Apart from Empoli, none of the others mentioned have superior values to the group coached by Aquilani, at least on paper.
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