41. Bassi                                                                    23. Villanova

32. Rivalta                                                               4. Scardina

6. Ogbonna                                                               17. Gorini

5. Di Cesare                                                               2. Manucci

21. Garofalu                                                              13. Carteri

8. Budel                                                                      24. Marchesan

27. Zanetti                                                                8. Musso

18. Gasbarroni                                                         21. Dalla Bonna

9. Bianchi                                                                    16. Bellazzini

14. Sgrigna                                                                   9. Piovaccari

20. Lazarevil                                                              11. Nassi

Stadio Olimpico (Turin)

Goals.  Torino- Bianchi 26        Cittadella- D’Ambrosio (o.g.) 73.

It was widely accepted in the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday that Torino managed to throw away another two points. If the Granata are going to get themselves promoted then they will have to do it the hard way. The one all draw with struggling Cittadella leaves Toro on 34 points from 23 games and see’s them drop from sixth place (the final play off place) to seventh behing Reggina on goal difference. It is beginning to look ever increasingly likely that goal difference will play a big part in the promotion shake up. If this proves to be the case then Franco Lerda’s men are going to struggle. Their inability to kill teams off when they have them on the ropes is going to come back to haunt them. By the hour mark on Saturday, the Granata should have had Claudio Foscarini’s men throwing in the white towel having not been able to take any further punishment. Instead the game resembled more of a scene straight out of a ‘Rocky’ movie where Citta sucked Toro in and then struck with a killer blow of their own. They very nearly struck a sucker punch right at the death which would have been a traversty of justice.

In the very early stages it took Lerda’s men a little while to settle following the recent run of bad form. In fact Citta threatened twice in the opening quarter of an hour before Toro registered a shot at goal. It was however the Granata who took the lead on 26 minutes when the wonderful footwork of Andrea Gasbarroni got him half a yard to look up and squeeze an inch perfect low cross almost along the goal-line to main man Rolando Bianchi who made no mistake from two yards to register his ninth goal of a stop start campaign so far. By this stage Gasbarroni was starting to run the show and indeed it was him who should have doubled Toro’s advantage just before the break but he failed to convince enough from close range to force the ball past Simone Villanova. It is exactly this kind of glaring problem that the club need to be addressing if they are truly serious about promotion hopes this season. Instead of worrying about whether Bianchi is still going to be at the club, Urbano Cairo should be out identifying the support striker we need to get this great club over the finish line instead of over-relying on one mans poor aching shoulders. The club hasn’t had a decent support man for Bianchi since they allowed Davide Di Michele to leave for Lecce last season. All the time that you rely solely on one man there will be the chance that you let your opponents sneak around the back and through the back door. This is exactly what happened on Saturday when Cittadella couldn’t believe their luck. They truly had played their get out of jail for free card and were celebrating an unlikely point. The goal came when Toro switched off for a quick, short corner and two quick passes later, Citta had worked themselves into a position to whip in a decent cross. Federico Piovaccari’s goal bound header was suddenly redirected completely in the other direction by the head of Toro defender Danilo D’Ambrosio and keeper Davide Bassi could only watch on horrified as the ball looped into the top corner to grab a lifeline for Foscarini’s men.

Despite that avoidable error, Toro had wasted enough chances to have won their next eight games. There were impressive forward displays by Gasbarroni, Alessandro Sgrigna and the ever reliable goal machine Bianchi. Lerda will now have his work cut out on the training pitch in order to find a way of stopping the costly errors that seem to have crept in recently and find a way for his forward line to be more ruthless in front of goal. This weekend sees another difficult trip to mid-table Crotone (who also happen to be Lerda’s former club from last season). The current run of form sees the Granata with no win in three games, which means no win in 2011 for Lerda’s men. This is a run of form which threatens to bring the wheels off of a fine run of form before Christmas which culminated with a 2-1 home win over Empoli on the 18th December and left Toro in 5th spot over the winter break. This run must end and end at the Calabria based club this weekend in front of the small band of Toro fans who will make the trip to the Stadio Ezio Scida.

In transfer rumour news, there was some good news for the Granata today when it was announced on the Sampdoria website that they had signed former Sienna and Palermo front man Massimo Maccarone on a permanent basis. This means that they won’t be looking to sign Rolando Bianchi, certainly in this transfer window. It does however mean that there remains a vacancy at his expected desternation of Fiorentina.

Our Leader.

Franco Lerda was not a fool when he stepped into the Stadio Olympic hot seat. The passion, the atmosphere, the pressure are nothing new to him as he is a former Granata player. The man who was born in Fossano in the region of Piedmont came through the ‘Il Toro’ youth ranks. He made his debut in the U.E.F.A. Cup back in 1985 at the age of 18. The former Chievo, Cesena, Brescia and Napoli player was a striker and so knows the kind of pressure that is on the shoulders of current Granata front man Rolandi Bianchi. Although he only managed one goal in nineteen appearances for ‘Il Toro’, he joined the club in 1979 at the age of 12, learnt his trade there and came through the youth ranks before making his debut on such a grand stage. He wasn’t a prolific goalscorer as his final toal read 103 goals in 402 games which works out roughly as a goal every four games. He faired slighty better at International level with one goal in two appearances for the Azzurri under 21 side.

Once he hung up his boots he began his coaching career at Saluzzo in non league taking them to the play offs for Serie D. He then moved onto Casale, Pescara and Pro Partia in quick succession before arriving at Crotone at the beginning of last season (2009/10) who were newly returned to Serie B. Lerda had a great season with everyone’s relegation favourites finishing an astounding 8th place where they touched the plays-offs but ultimately fell away. Lerda was offered the Granata job following the defection of former Coach Stefano Colantuono to his old club Atalanta whom had just been relegated from Serie A to B. Colantuono had taken the Granata all the way to the play off final where they had lost to Cesena meaning another season of playing second fiddle to the boys across the city.

One of the main appeals about Lerda apart from the fact that he used to play for the club was the fact that he began his coaching career so low down. Unlike a lot of the current ex-pros who walze into a job at their former clubs just because of what they achieved in their playing careers, Lerda has learnt the ropes right down at grass roots level and gets far more credit for having taken the time to do it and also because he has earnt it.

Torino has been classed as the biggest club in serie B. Basically they can bring in the biggest crowds in the division and have a fair amount of money to spend if needed. The main worry for Lerda now is that he does whatever he can to keep hold of Talismanic striker Rolando Bianchi at the end of the season. The only way to do this maybe promotion to Serie A. Around the front-man however, Lerda is constructing a younger side with the hope that if the club don’t make at least the playoffs this season, then they will have a side capable of mounting a serious challenge for automatic promotion next season.

The next four months will determine Lerda’s fate as the Granata still have the top three of Novara, Atalanta and Siena to play a second time.  Results have to become more consistent after Saturday’s 3-0 drubbing at the hands of fourth place Varese. The worrying point is however, ‘Il Toro’ have fallen ten points behind the top three who are all on 43 points whilst the Granata themselves are stuck on just 33. They are now five points behind fourth place Varese but remain in the final play-off position on goal difference from Reggina.

The next four months will shape the future of this once great and successful club and it won’t take long to get them going once they begin to win again. Lerda needs to make sure they are remarkabley consistent at home and begin to pick up some hard fought points away from home as well. A home game with struggling Citadella should be just what the docter ordered to get things back on track. Lerda may have a bright future at the club, but his success will determine the ability to keep hold of Bianchi and help the good-times roll at the Stadio Olympico.

Varese                                                                                                       Torino

81 Zappino                                                                                               41 Bassi

31 Pisano                                                                                                    50 Pratali

2 Pesoli                                                                                                        6 Ogbonna

33 Pugliese                                                                                                 21 Garofalo

3 Claiton                                                                                                      88 D’Ambrosio

11 Zecchlin                                                                                                  7 De Vezze

7 Carrozza                                                                                                   19 De Feudis

4 Frara                                                                                                           44 Stevanovic

8 Corti                                                                                                              9 Bianchi

21 Ebagua                                                                                                       14 Sgrigna

10 Leonidas                                                                                                  20 Lazarevic.

Stadio Franco Ossola (Varese).

Goals: Varese- Frara 45, Claiton 48, Concas 79.

Franco Lerda’s Torino were ripped apart on Saturday afternoon and taught a valuable footballing lesson as the race for automatic promotion to Serie A really begins to heat up. Inside the compact Stadio Franco Ossola, the Granata were slow, inept and missed far too many chances for a side with nailed on plans for promotion. Toro also lost a man as two deserved yellow cards were shown to midfielder Daniele De Vezze, which now means he will sit out next weekends vital home game with strugglers Cittadella.

The finishing was weak, distribution was poor and the defending was down right disgraceful as in form Varese (who have just achieved back to back promotions from Serie C2 to Serie B) took full advantage of an out of sorts Granata. Over the last 18 months, both English and Italian press have labelled Toro as the biggest club outside the top flight. They have the ground, the proud history and more importantly when things are going well, the support to sustain a life inside the top flight. However in more recent seasons, they have begun to allow their standards to drop, their footballing ambitions seemingly going with them. Once a proud club, Toro have spent the last decade bouncing between the top two divisions more frequently than a piece of chewing gum stuck to a kangaroo’s foot.

Star names have come and gone, the latest of them seemingly being club captain and talisman Rolando Bianchi. The facts are clear for club President Urbano Cairo to see. For Bianchi to stay at the Stadio Olympico beyond this season, then Lerda has to deliver on his promise for Serie A football. Whether they go straight up or have to settle for the lottery of the play-offs once more, they have to be preparing for trips to neighbours Juventus, AC Milan, Inter and Roma and not another season travelling to Sassuollo, Ascoli and Crotone.  Bianchi has stayed beyond reasonable doubt loyal to the Granata to the bitter end. However, one feels if they don’t make it up this season, the iconic figure will be sold to help to balance the books. After his relative reborn and rise again following an indifferent spell at Eastlands, the home of Mancheater City,  under Sven Goran Eriksson, Bianchi was a useful addition to squad, even soring at Eastlands againtest close rivals Bolton. Bianchi has the natural talent to continually find the net, but it seems if they don’t make it through to the promised land, the Bergamo born hitman could be booking a one way ticket out out of the Olypmico. With Cassano now out of the way with a permanent switch to Milan, the Genoa based club (Sampdoria)  are looking for a replacement to fill the void as young United starlet Federico Macheda is only on loan for the remainder of the seasson and Sir Alex Ferguson won’t allow him to make a permanent switch. There has also been press talk of a return to the Premiership for Bianchi as both Merseyside clubs are desparate for new frontmen, but this seems a more distant proposition. It seems ever more increasing that they may have to part company with a player who has been a revelation in his time in Turin but clubs have to move on.

Saturday’s defeat in Varese has led to the team dropping two places to seventh and more importantly falling ten points behind the top three of Novara, Atalanta and Siena who are all locked together on 43 points. It would take an almighty push from Toro now to cut that lead at the top, so Lerda’s men may have to settle for another trip to the play-offs. What happens, the Granata have to up the tempo of their game and show a new level of urgency if they are to secure the best possible position in the play-offs. Franco Lerda is going to be a very busy man over the next couple of months.

Varese have just experienced back to back promotions from Serie C2-C1, and then C1-B. A further promotion into the top flight would be the ultimate achievement. Defeat to the ‘Granata’ however, would see Lerda’s men leap frog them into serious promotion challengers. There is now a five point gap from Siena in third to Varese in fourth place. The top three of Novara, Atalanta and Siena are separated by only two points now after the Piedmont based club had a seven point gap at the top going into December. Defeat to Chievo in the Coppa Italia signalled the start of a bad run which has seen Atalanta draw level on points with them. This in turn has given renewed optimism to Franco Lerda’s men as the ‘Granata’ have started to hit better form. This has been helped in large parts by the return to goal scoring form of talisman and skipper Rolando Bianchi who has so far hit eight goals in this campaign, carrying on from the 24 Serie B goals he scored last term. This will give renewed optimism to the Stadio Olympico faithful who are expecting their heroes to go one better this term.

http://us.seriea.fantasysports.yahoo.com/ (or there is an italian website if you prefer)
Group ID#: 670
Password: forzaoffside

I’m off to make my team, hopefully I will see more people there!

The team lost their Coppa Italia Third Round match in Livorno this weekend by a score of 2-0. Despite the scoreline there are plenty of positives to be taken from the match. For much of the game we were the equal of the newly promoted Serie A side and I strongly believe that if we can improve our finishing touch from what we showed today we can easily challenge for the Serie B title. A few points from watching my crappy quality stream as I wait for the full match to finish downloading:

So, although one can never be too happy with a loss to beat ourselves up over it would be a bad reaction to a game that was more of a measuring stick than anything of actual worth.

Transfer Tidbits

Transfer-wise we have some interesting rumors surfacing. The first and most exciting in my opinion regards this guy:

Éder Citadin Martins, Éder for short or “Éder-gol” as he has been dubbed by Frosinone fans is rumored to be the subject of a megabid (by Serie B standards) from Torino. The purported figure is somewhere between €3 million and €3.3 million. Éder is regarded by some pundits in Italy as “the next Kaká” and indeed bears a resemblance to his superstar countryman, at least in his style of play. An attacking mid with pace and goalscoring ability, Éder has been a star in Serie B the past year and a half playing for Frosinone and could fill the gap left by Rosina. This summer he came back to Empoli, the team who co-owned him but if the rumors play out he might not play a game for the empolesi as he could move to Toro. This transfer could add a real punch to our attack, especially if we sell some of our forwards (Abbruscato and Amoruso, namely) and he will certainly find his way to Serie A sometime soon, so why not with us? He may be a little on the pricey side, but with the money we have made from transfers I think he is not out of our reach.

If we don’t land Éder another popular transfer rumor these days is a swap with Reggina: Elvis Abbruscato for Franco Brienza, which would be a steal for us, IMO. Abbruscato is a good Serie B player, but Brienza is an effective Serie A player who could also provide a ton of creativity in the attack to replace the loss of Rosina. Parma is the latest rumored destination for Nick Amoruso while Dominique Malonga could move on loan to newly-promoted Ligue 1 side Boulogne, where he could gain some valuable experience.

Regarding the Dzemaili saga, Cairo and Foschi have frozen negotiations with Palermo for the time being and are now saying that Dzemaili will stay at Toro. The player himself is happy to stay, but many suggest it is a bluff to increase the price for Dzemaili, especially with Napoli now entering the race to sign him. Blerim is a player I’d hate to lose, but if we can milk this transfer for a lot of cash then I could be OK with it.

Torino are through to the next round of the Coppa Italia after a narrow 1-0 win over Lega Pro side Figline. As commentators appropriately noted, it is the Toro of August, as we are still in many ways getting ready for the league campaign ahead. Rolando Bianchi scored the only goal of the match, assisted by David Di Michele, making his competitive debut after a loan spell in England. We also saw true Toro debuts from Simone Loria and Nicolás Gorobsov, who both started, and our most recent signing, Massimo Loviso, who replaced the latter early in the second half.

Highlights:

There is not much else to say about this match. It felt more like a pre-season friendly than anything else and although we only scored one goal, we never had to put our foot on the gas and generally looked comofortable with very few opportunities worth noting for Figline. However, we have a much trickier match coming up this Friday, away to Livorno in the Third Round. (The match was pushed up from Saturday for TV.) The winner of that tie will play the winner of Sampdoria-Lecce.

On the transfer side of things there is not much to note. There is a possibility that Palermo will make a new bid for Dzemaili while the papers are saying Milan and Shakhtar are also interested. I think there is still a good chance Dzemaili could stay here but would not be surprised if he left. Foschi and Cairo want to keep him but know that if they can get a good price for him now would be better as he is fresh off of a solid Serie A campaign despite Toro’s relegation. Palermo are also possibly interested in Matteo Rubin.

The big transfer out is that Simone Barone, who joined Toro after his World Cup win in 2006 has left the club for Cagliari for a sum of €1 million. While that is fairly inexpensive, I feel that it is a fair valuation considering that although he is a good player, he is not the same player that played 16 times for the Nazionale and hoisted the trophy in Berlin and is now 31. His performances over the years have ranged from solid to below average and considering the room this frees up in the wage bill, especially now that we are in Serie B it is a move that makes sense. While a good player, he has perhaps not delivered as much as we thought he would and is a component of the team that we can afford to replace. Nonetheless, ciao Simone, and thank you for your three years of dedicated service.

Coming into Torino in a move not coincidentally related to Barone’s departure is Livorno center-mid Massimo Loviso. The player comes in on a co-ownership deal worth €900,000. For this sum we are getting a midfielder with many of the same traits as Barone but at 25 years old has considerably more upside and potential. He has Serie A experience with Bologna from 2002 to 2005 and also played a season with them in Serie B. A season long loan to Serie C side Sambenedettese saw him establish himself as a first-team regular there before he was sold to Livorno where he played regularly for the first team over two seasons in Serie A and Serie B, going down with them and them helping them right back up. Over his career so far he has made 145 professional starts, scoring 9 goals and also appearing 6 times for the Azzurrini. He is a player that can definitely do the job in Serie B, has potential to improve, and should fill the gap left by Barone’s departure quite nicely. Benevenuti al Toro, Massimo!

Also worth noting in the transfer market is that an already long saga in the possible departure of Dzemaili to Palermo could go on plenty longer. The two clubs have failed to reach a deal as Cairo has stated that he is planning on keeping the Swiss midfielder in Turin unless Palermo can make a good enough offer, which has not happened as of yet. Meanwhile, Dzemaili has stated that he is happy to continue playing for Torino right now and is preparing for tomorrow’s Coppa Italia match against Figline.

On that note, it is worth mentioning that we play our first competitive match tomorrow. Torino will take on Figline in the Second Qualifying Round of the Coppa Italia. AS Figline come from Figline Valdarno, a town of about 17,000 people in Tuscany, near Florence. They have spent most of their 40+ year history bouncing around the amateur leagues of Italian football before earning promotion to Serie C2 at the end of the 2007-2008 season and then going on to win the renamed Lega Pro Seconda Divisione Girone B and the Supercoppa of the Lega Pro 2 last season, earning them a spot in the Lega Pro Prima Divisione for this season, the highest the club has ever ascended in the Italian football pyramid. Figline defeated fellow third division side Pergocrema away to reach this round. The only recognizable player in Figline’s squad is Enrico Chiesa, a name recognizable to any fan of Italian football. Although Chiesa is now 38 years old, he is still certainly an attacking threat. Lastly, despite the fact that the tie is a home match, it will not be played in Torino due to the unavailability of the Stadio Olimpico. Instead it will be played in the nearby town of Ivrea at the 3,500 capacity Stadio Gino Pistoni, which is also home to the town’s Lega Pro 2 team. The change of venue does have some upsides as despite the fact we are not in Torino, we are nearby and should be able to fill it up whereas I could forsee a fairly empty-looking Stadio Olimpico for this type of match. This is a match we should definitely win but we will need to do a professional job. It will also be worth watching what kind of lineup Colantuono will field with the various signings and departures. The winner of this tie will play Livorno in the Third Qualifying Round.

Now, I am off to see Barcelona take on Chivas in San Francisco. Also, apologies for the formatting issues. I will look into make this more visually pleasing in the days to come.