Those goddamn jail uniforms!

By: bingitz2002 | February 21st, 2009

Seriously. What’s so appealing about playing in black-and-white stripes? It looks like you’re doing time, not playing football. (I suppose it suits Juventus however.) Nonetheless, i gobbi are not the focus of our efforts this weekend (though the derby is soon!), this Sunday we welcome Udinese to the Stadio Olimpico. This is a tricky match. Last season we lost this fixture 0-1 to a cracking free kick from Simone Pepe, so needless to say we need a different result this time around.

Now, I could spend time and use some space writing a bunch of stuff, but this Gazzetta graphic tells the story perfectly:

Perhaps the most notable thing about our starting lineup is that Monzon is planning on starting Gasbarroni lining up as our fantasista instead of Rosina. This is a bizarre decision to me. Rosinaldo has been in good enough form to keep his place. What I would suggest is starting Gasba on the left wing instead of Diana, who has never really impressed me there and should certainly not replace Abate. However, Diana does bring a lot of hard work and stability to the table, while Gasba is a bit of an unknown quantity and probably not as good at defensive responsibilities as Diana. To me, its all a question of balance. We could tilt the scales in favor of attacking, but that’s a dangerous thing to do against a squad like Udinese. On the other hand, if there is ever a game we need three points from, it is this one. We could go for attack and sacrifice one of our more attacking center mids, but that would likely be Corini, who I would see as integral to a positive result tomorrow. I still like the idea of putting more into our attack and possibly having Dzemaili drop back a little bit or even switch out for the more defensively capable Zanetti, but it seems now we will have to wait for whatever surprise El Monzon springs on us next.

I can’t write much more because I have to get to the airport early tomorrow morning, but I will leave you with a prediction: Torino 1-0 Udinese, Gasba to open his Toro account. Unfortunately, we have not beaten Udinese in this fixture (or at all) since the 2001-2002 season, but I that has to change some time and what better time than now. FORZA TORO PER SEMPRE!