No matter what happened, how it came about and whether it was deserved, Bologna are three points better off than they were this time last week and are still outside the relegation zone.
It isn’t important that they haven’t scored a goal from open play for 741 minutes. It isn’t important that Gianluca Curci was probably the best player on the field in the game against Cagliari, the game they won, and even he didn’t have a lot to do.
It isn’t even, in terms of the league, important that the fans’ third protest movement of the season brought a third victory – that’s just a coincidence, even if it might be one that deserves thinking on.
All of those things are true, yet all pale into the background against the three points and against the league table those three points help to shape. It was a good weekend for Bologna. Sassuolo were beaten in Udine, Catania fell at home to Juventus, Livorno lost to Torino and Chievo were beaten at home by Roma.
With Cagliari (of course) also losing, it meant the Rossoblu were able to climb as high as sixteenth, skipping over the Labronici side that beat them last week, and putting a two point gap between themselves and the drop zone; where Livorno are fighting for breath ahead of Sassuolo and Catania, both of whom are beginning to look a little adrift.
Wednesday was only a little different. Obviously, Chievo claimed three points, but beyond that, Desolation Row remained unhappy. Catania lost, Sassuolo lost, and Livorno lost. These teams are at the bottom of the table for a reason. In that sense, no ground was lost and there are (albeit generally from the weekend) positives to draw from the week, even though it ended horribly.
Gianluca Curci is looking back to his best; on Sunday particularly he commanded his area well, marshalled the defence with aplomb and produced saves enough in a fairly uneventful game to highlight his good performance. Additionally, it was more than fitting that Sunday’s goal came from Lazaros. The Greek had been Bologna’s best player at Livorno and has carried his positive form forwards, regularly being the link between an otherwise stunted midfield and an attack that contained both Bianchi and Acquafresca.
Lazaros has a name that begs to be conjured with and, following Sunday, he looked set to draw comparisons with the man who was raised from the dead. There is a second part to the other Lazarus’ story, a part that is not often considered. Although raised from the dead, he did not enjoy life eternally – eventually he died again and that time was not raised.
After the relief on Sunday afternoon, there was an element of that on Wednesday. For a team going into the game full of hope and possibility, the Rossoblu extinguished that entirely by as early as the seventh minute in Verona as Alberto Paloschi’s penalty put the hosts one goal to the good.
Make no bones about it, the Bologna team that played against Chievo was abject. One shot on target tells enough of the story, but it can be easily fleshed out with other equally damning statistics; zero corners being a particular indictment, but any number that represents the Rossoblu’s performance will tell the story of a team who were doomed from the off, and never looked like going home with anything other than the good hiding they ended up getting.
To have lost so comprehensively to two fellow relegation candidates does not reflect anything positive. For a team that started the post-Diamanti era full of purpose and vigour, they have looked rudderless and out of their depth often in the last weeks, highlighting the absence of their influential former captain. Indeed, there were rumours around the internet in the week that financial issues in China might see Diamanti return to Bologna before the end of the campaign. They had the look of wishful thinking, to be honest.
There is another chance – indeed, there’s another eight chances – with a game against Atalanta on Sunday, but it will take considerable improvement to get anything from the Orobici. Knowing that it is followed by games with Inter, Parma and Juventus, it has begun to take on the look of a last-chance saloon. Bologna cannot be relegated this weekend, indeed, they might not even end it in the drop zone, but the opportunity offered by their kind run of fixtures in March has been largely passed up.
April may well be the cruellest month.
