I’m terribly sorry…
By: Rolf |
7 Comments
…but I simply won’t be able to come up with a Coppa Italia post today or tomorrow, so the earliest sign of life you can expect to see from me is Friday or Saturday.
However, Johonna over at the Inter board has made a perfectly fine preview not just for Interistas but for Doriani as well.
It was by the way very nice to see him mentioning my work so far (him being one of the most read bloggers here at The Offside and I being what can be perfectly described as an upstart).
It won’t stop me from going FORZA DORIA!!! though.
Category: Uncategorized
UEFA Cup woe and meeting with the Rossoneri
By: Rolf | 7 Comments
So, after getting our heads handed to us by Metalist Kharkov or whatever, we’ve got one thing left to fight for; the Coppa Italia. Others will say we have a relegation fight coming up as well but I refuse to give in to talk like that. This squad is far to good to be relegated.
However, before we keep on in our Coppa charge we’ve got a certain Milan team to deal with.
They got kicked out of the UEFA Cup as well, though they bowed out with a bit more dignity.
So we have to teams who played and lost on Thursday (Milan didn’t really lose but it certainly felt like a loss), and both teams are going through injury crisises, our a minor one but Milan are in really bad shape with Gennaro Gattuso, Marco Borriello, Alessandro Nesta, Zeljko Kalac, Kaka, Andriy Shevchenko and Daniele Bonera out.
We’re still missing Delvecchio, Gastaldello and Nenad Kristic are out with injuries and Bellucci is suspended, but let’s admit it: Milan wins the infirmary battle.
The battle on the pitch on the other hand…
We haven’t lost in FIVE matches, we recently helf Juve at their own ground and we defeated a troublesome Atalanta side. Surely something to be proud of, eh? Meanwhile, the Milanese have slumped to draws against Reggina and Genoa (okay, “slumped” might not be the word with Genoa), and they recently lost out to Inter in the derby courtesy of a volleyball beauty from Adriano. The stuff the other Milanese are getting away with borders on the ridiculous, but still:
Milan are in bad shape.
Statistically we shouldn’t be too optimistic, as we have only defeated Milan, uh, ONCE at home over the last ten years. Milan have always been Doria’s bogey-team (together with Barca), beating us in UEFA Super Cup and Supercoppa finals during the Golden Era, and trouncing us 5-0 at the Ferraris last season.
Still, I have this funny feeling AGAIN. With Nesta out Kaladze might start and we all know what Kaladze means right? Free chances given away within the last 16. Yummy. Partnering Kaladze will be either Maldini or Favalli, Maldini is the greatest defender the world has ever seen while Favalli is…Favalli. Both of them are what you’d call dead slow, so as long as our players don’t seek one-on-ones with Maldini and just focus on sprinting behind them we should be fine.
In goal for the Milanese however, will be the brilliant Abbiati. So we’re not THAT fine.
The Milan midfield are crammed with players who were serious contenders for the BAllon d’Or about 5 years ago, unless Ancelotti sends Flamini out to play.
Up front for Milan however, we find a formiable duo of Pato & Inzaghi, both of them extremely dangerous in their own right. Iv’e never missed Gastaldello so much before.
What I don’t miss however, is the days when we didn’t have Pazzini. It’s now 4 goals in 4 games, and I don’t think anyon will argue this guy is arguably our most lethal player since Mancini ran rampant through defences back in the 90′ies. Partnering is the slightly less lethal but slightly more joker-like Cassano. I think it’s safe to assume that if the right Cassano turns up then the Milan defence will have one hell of a time stopping him and Pazzini.
Probable line-up: Castellazzi; Accardi, Lucchini, Raggi; Pieri, Franceschini, Palombo, Sammarco, Padalino; Cassano, Pazzini
Key battles:
Pato & Inzaghi vs the Doria defence = Pato has becoma a master at ripping defences apart lately, and joining him is the ultimate master of poaching, Pippo Inzaghi.
I can’t help but predict at least one Milan goal today.
Pazzini and Cassano vs the old guard = We really should get something from this. Abbiati will be a nuisance but a nuisance we should be able to overcome.
Predictions: I think at least one goal for either side is likely, and so the victor will be the one who scores one goal more than that. Simple, really. And bearing in mind that our last victories against the Rossoneri have come through 2-1 victories, the likely outcome in my Blucerchiati-warped mind is…
Game: Sampdoria 2-1 Milan
Goals: Cassano 12′, Pato 41′, Pazzini 75′
MOTM: Cassano
DORIA ‘OLE!!!
The PS this week is that this is the last time Maldini graces the Ferraris. *applaudes*.
Category: UncategorizedBlucerchiati vs the other Nerazzuri
By: Rolf | 4 Comments
But first, a word on our recent UEFA Cup embarrasment.
I didn’t watch the game, but from various reports I’ve read we played a game that can be perfectly described as utter crap. Metalist seems to have walked all over us at the Marassi, and our chances of going to Ukraine and winning 2-0, 3-1, 4-2 etc are…well, they’re NOT good.
So that’s the UEFA Cup then. Only the Coppa left to fight for. Jolly good.
But first of all, the Nerazzuri of Bergamo are coming to town, high on self-belief after their trashing of Roma last week. So why am I feeling optimistic?
Last weekend we faced a Juve side who are miles ahead of Atalanta in terms of quality, but while Juve were (and are) in a less-than-ideal mood the same can’t be said of Atalanta.
They have now taken three impressive scalps, namely Napoli (3-1), Inter (3-1) and Roma (3-0) as well as beating Udinese and us earlier, but seeing how we and the Zebrette have fared this season those scalps aren’t that impressive.
So we’ve got a determined team led by the arguably most in-form player in Italy (Doni), a team who has humbled three giants during the season and whose squad includes a striker who is on the shopping list of at least Juve and Roma. Facing them are a team who have won only 3 of their last 12 games and who recently lost out to a team called Metalist. At home. Jeez.
However, there is one thing going for us (two actually; we’ve got Pazzini) : So far, Atalanta have shown a tendency to play extraordinarily well in every other match, but not quite as well in the next one. After they beat Napoli they proceeded to lose to Reggina, after their victory against Inter they were brought down by Cagliari, and hopefully we will do the honours after their Roma triumph. This is all mere speculation, but in my opinion it’s worth to take into consideration. Oh and Cassano scored his first ever Sampdoria goal against Atalanta. So there.
We aren’t really playing for much, the Coppa is the only thing that can be fought for now and relegation isn’t as much of a threat as some people seem to think.
Atalanta however are where we should have been, chasing a UEFA Cup spot. I must admit it would be sweet to make some trouble for them.
Probable line-up:
Castellazzi; Raggi, Ferri, Stankevicius; Pieri, Franceschini, Palombo, Sammarco, Padalino; Cassano, Pazzini
Key battles:
Doni vs the entire fucking Doria team = I’m not kidding, this guy is dynamite at the moment, and stopping him will be our most important objective.
Floccari vs Raggi & Ferri = I don’t like this, I don’t like this at all.
Predictions:
This match will depend on wether Doni and Floccari turns up or not. We are in the middle of an injury crisis and have been rather poor leading up to this game but Atalanta are notorious strugglers playing away from home.
Game: Sampdoria 2-1 Atalanta
Goals: Pazzini 22′, Palombo 71′, Floccari 77′
MOTM: Castellazzi.
As always, FORZA DORIA!
PS. Because of some problems with the media function, this post is pictureless.
I’ll try and fix this ’till next time.
Category: UncategorizedMission accomplished
By: Rolf | 11 Comments
Niiiice.
I can only begin to imagine the Juve offside’s desperation after this match.
Four times the bianconeri rattled the Doria posts, and yet they were left with only a single goal and point. Sampdoria got excactly the same, minus three woodwork hits.
Juve ran the game from start end with Sampdoria creating a grand total of 3 or maybe 4 chances, and it required a great deal of luck to keep Juve at 1-0 and 1-1 as long as we did.
So how the hell is this “mission accomplished”?
Today would have been mission accompished even if Juve had won 3-1. Not because Pazzini scored a goal with a finish so cool it bordered on annoying or because Cassano embarrased Legrottaglie with one of the most delicious sombreros (chips) witnessed in recent times (this duo is destined for greatness. Well, so was Totti and Cassano but this is different. Really).
This is mission accomplished because we fought for every bit of luck that came our way today.
We scored an early goal and held on to it, which is perfectly reasonable playing away to Juventus. Stankevicius, Raggi, Gastaldello and Padalino fought like lions to keep the Zebra attacks at bay for most of the game (Gastaldello payed for it with a sprained knee), and Sammarco, Franceschini, Pieri and Palomba (yay!) did their bit by throwing themselves in the way ofanything black and white moving towards Castellazzi.
Speaking of Castellazzi, he was in superb form today. He made a very good save on a Nedved rocket early in the game and made some other solid saves. Chanceless at the Amauri header.
Cassano and Pazzini did excactly what they were meant to do, Cassano suffered a muscular injury but it didn’t look too bad. After Cassano’s substitution Pazzini was pretty much the entire Doria attack but he created some problems for the Juve attack that could easily have led to some real chances.
So we had a lot of luck, but we did a fair amount of fighting for it and can now leave Turin with a unexpected point and prepare for wednesday’s UEFA Cup match vs Metalist Standard.
Match facts:
Juventus 1 – 1 Sampdoria
Pazzini 10 (S), Amauri 62 (J)
Stadio Olimpico
Juventus: Buffon; Grygera, Mellberg, Legrottaglie, Molinaro; Camoranesi (Marchionni 68), Poulsen (Giovinco 46), Tiago (Marchisio 89), Nedved; Amauri, Del Piero
Sampdoria: Castellazzi; Stankevicius, Gastaldello (Ferri 71), Raggi (Da Costa 58); Padalino, Sammarco, Palombo, Franceschini, Pieri; Pazzini, Cassano (Ziegler 76)
Player ratings:
The entire team gets a 7 except for Castellazzi and Pazzini who gets 8.5.
So, until next time, forza Il Bucerchiati!
PS. I’ll be gone from tomorrow ’till Friday, so you’ll have to do without any Samp offside updates for nearly a week. Try not crying your eyes out will you?
Category: UncategorizedFisherman vs Old Lady
By: Rolf | 2 Comments
It’s not a fair fight, is it?
Actually, it is.
While pretty much everyone excpects us to get soundly trashed by Juve, I think it would be not only hasty but downright stupid to ignore the fact that while Sampdoria are definately not in the form of their history, neither are Juve.
Last weekend they edged out Catania thanks to a last-gasp goal by Poulsen, and when you need Poulsen to save with a last-gasp goal you you’re in trouble. Real trouble.
Furthermore, Iaquinta is out with a red card, and the return of Trezeguet isn’t enough to convince me that Juve will be steamrollering us tomorrow. He’s been out for a while and if he returns at all then I think a shaky performance and an early substitution is all the Juventini can excpect. I could be wrong though.
Meanwhile, neither Del Piero or Amauri have been as impressive so far in 2009 as they were in 2008, as they’re in the middle of February with ONE goal between them (Del Piero).
And to top it, Zanetti, De Ceglie, Knezevic and Zebina are all out and there’s a big question mark over Chiellini.
So things aren’t looking good for Juve.
Unfortunately they aren’t looking too good for us either.
Palombo is out, which is a big blow in itself, but there is something about this Doria team that makes me feel…nervous. We slipped to a draw against Chievo two weeks ago, and followed that up by letting Siena come back from 2-1 down to get a 2-2 result. 4 points lost needlessly, and unless we want to be fighting for two cups and at the same time try to stay clear of relegation then we need to shape up. And the perfect way of doing that would be to get something from tomorrows game.
I’m not demanding a victory, nor do I think its terribly likely, but a draw? Definately possible.
Even a hard-fought loss would suffice, my main wish is that they come out and go out fighting, because while we can’t excpect to get too many points from the kind of games we MUST excpect to get them from the likes of Chievo and Siena. And since none of these little teams are likely to let us pummel them effortlessly, we need some fighting spirit, and we need it now.
Probable line-up:
Castellazzi; Stankevicius, Gastaldello, Lucchini; Padalino, Ziegler, Sammarco, Franceschini, Pieri; Pazzini, Cassano
Key battles:
Del Piero & Amauri vs Gastaldello & Lucchini = Normally there wouldn’t be room for doubt here, but considering the Juve duo’s recent form, I’ll call it a draw here.
Juve midfield vs Sampdoria midfield minus Palombo = Even the most devout Doria fan should admit that Nedved, archisio and Camoranesi are the best bet coming up against Ziegler, Sammarco and Franceschini. There’s always the chance of injuries though.
Legrottaglie & Mellberg/Chiellini vs Cassano & Pazzini = Tight, even tighter if Chiellini is fit, but I think I’ll go with Cassano & Pazzini here, especially Pazzini. Still, it’s tight.
Predictions
It will be a game where both defences will have to keep up with a very potent striking duo, and the winner will be the one who keeps his defence the tightest.
Game: Sampdoria 1-1 Juventus
Goals: Pazzini 38′, Marchisio 77′.
MOTM: Pazzini
Anyway, FORZA SAMPDORIA!
PS. Here’s to Maldini’s last derby, hope the legend gets a good finale.
There’s no team I want to win this year’s Serie A as much as Milan simply to see Maldini lift one last trophy.
Category: UncategorizedThe Sampdoria offside is back…
By: Rolf | 8 Comments
…but with someone new at the helm.
I have the extremely prestigious honour of announcing myself as the new writer here at the Sampdoria offside, facing off some pretty stiff competition from a 6-year old and a chinese dyslectic.
I’m not terribly good at these sorts of introductions, so I’ll just say that you’ll get to know me a lot better after a few days/weeks.
Cheers.
Category: UncategorizedWrite for Sampdoria Offside
By: Daryl | Add Comments
Are you a Sampdoria fan? Want to write about the Blucerchiati for a large and appreciative audience? Then we have a spot for you here on Sampdoria Offside.
Writing an Offside blog is a non-paid position, but it’s pretty much the most fun you can have with a keyboard and an internet connection.
If interested, read our bloggers guidelines here and then send an email to daryl[at]theoffside[dot]com
Category: UncategorizedTHE REAL FOOTBALL ON THANKSGIVING!
By: Alberico | 7 Comments
I am quite sorry for the lack of updates, but finals are KILLING me!!! Still no excuse. But anyway, things are looking pretty good for us DORIANI lately as we are winning games, the latest being an important victory at home against a team ahead of us in the standings, Catania. The result, 3-0, reminded me of many of the home games last year with the score line, and it is easy to admit that since the return of Bellucci, the team, and Cassano especially have elevated their game. And now, while Americans will be stuffing their faces with stuffed turkey (or with lasagna first, turkey second in my house, Italians what can i say lol), SAMP will be facing a tough test in their second UEFA Cup group game against the Germans of Stuttgart, with mighty striker Mario Gomez. So in between turkey legs i will be watching this game.
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Category: Uncategorizedfinalmente!!!!!!
By: Alberico | 2 Comments
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Breath of fresh air. That was my first reaction when the final whistle blew yesterday. Why? Because we finally got our deserved victory of the 2008-09 campaign. Now Sampdoria yesterday against Bologna did not do anything else different in their style of play from their first 8 games, the difference was two-fold: 1) we scored goals, 2) Cassano & Bellucci.
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Category: Uncategorizedcan we turn the page now or not yet???
By: Alberico | Add Comments
Well, let me tell you, yesterday i tried to do everything possible to watch this game somewhere. As always I had my matchtracker on from www.gazzetta.it and trying to find a live streaming video. Well I finally found one that worked just before Daniele Dessena scored what would end up being the game winner, and what a win it was. This was not against the mediocre minnows of Kaunas, but this Partizan Belgrade, a european team for many years, and it was on the road, in what is known to be one of the most hostile environments in European football. However, it is not like Sampdoria changed the way they play, because last night was the same kind of performance they have been displaying in Serie A, just that there we cannot seem to find the luck we need. Which is why I ask, does this meaningful win take us to the next page? I think so, and here is why.
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Category: Uncategorized
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