Bologna Club Focus: Rossoblu Effervescence Ended By Cuadrado

Date: 30th April 2014 at 9:40am
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I was all set to write this piece in the tone of doom and gloom, looking downwards through the trapdoor and the disaster that is likely to befall Bologna this season. The game against Fiorentina was torrid; Juan Cuadrado a vibrant architect, providing so many things that the Rossoblu are unable to match – and so it proved.

I was all set to do that until I started doing my research, and remembered how the match unfolded. Yes, it ended abysmally, and yes, the Viola were worthy winners, but the Veltri had them on the ropes at the start. It was through familiar avenues of attack (the two Greeks) but Bologna were fizzing at the beginning and, by the time Cuadrado opened the scoring, had taken eight shots to Fiorentina’s three.

There was, during that period, a genuine sense that Bologna might actually do something – that either Kone or Lazaros would be the ones to unlock the defence; even that Robert Acquafresca might brush off his cobwebs and finally bulge the net. It didn’t come to pass and, with the wind knocked out of them by the visitor’s goal, the performance dropped off rapidly. The second half was largely stagnant, but Fiorentina still had the best of it.

It reminded me of nothing so much as the effervescent vitamin tablets that parents use to make their children take vitamins. When first dropped into the glass, they fizz, hiss and spit, dancing round the surface, and giving colour and flavour to the glass. Then, after a short while, when the initial portion of the tablet is spent, the remaining dry powder comes into contact with water less often. It splutters a little, as what’s left dissolves and dissipates pretty quickly. Then it is gone. It looks weak and does nothing so much as leave a bad taste in the mouth.

That was how it played out; the Felsinei were so pumped up for the game, so eager to take the chance, that they burned their energy early, trying to play the football of a Borussia Dortmund or a Liverpool while lacking any of the attacking prowess or clinicality in front of goal – eight shots they may have had early, but half were from outside the box, and three missed the target. You might not win the lottery without a ticket, but all Bologna managed to prove on Saturday was that they were aware a lottery existed. Their hope had vanished by the time it was drawn.

So, an improved performance for part of the game. Lesser teams than Fiorentina may have crumbled. Better strikeforces than Bologna’s may have capitalised. It’s difficult to know what Davide Ballardini can try that’s different. Robert Acquafresca remains the man in possession and, though he never looked like scoring against the Viola, he’ll probably start against Genoa, too.

You could accuse me of trying to paper over the cracks, but I would need a rainforest of paper to cover the cracks in this Bologna side. You could accuse me of relentless positivity, but I would need a heart of stone to hope that this team who have been so dismantled over the last few years couldn’t make the best of itself once more.

In some ways, the media silence the Rossoblu have enacted is serving little purpose now. The team, clearly, haven’t improved. The tactics they work on in the week don’t appear particularly complicated by the weekend. The only benefit is that the squad isn’t forced to tell the media they’ll work harder in training because there’s nothing else they can say.

Three weeks to go, then. Fate has played a strange hand to Bologna and Sassuolo as they will get to compare one anothers’ performances directly as we go through. Sassuolo’s game against Juventus was a week after the Bianconeri had beaten Bologna. They may have played better, but the outcome was the same – zero points, keeping the two sides level.

Next week, the Neroverde travel to Fiorentina, who defeated the Rossoblu this week. The following weekend, Eusebio di Francesco’s side face Genoa – the next stop on Bologna’s list, due on Sunday afternoon.

Only after that, with the Rossoblu playing Catania, then Lazio, while Sassuolo complete their fixtures against AC Milan, do the schedules differ. In Genoa, Bologna come face to face with a team that has been historically sympathetic towards them – and contains Alberto Gilardino, a very popular figure at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara.

It is not out of the question that the Felsinei could claim a point from the atmosphere of friendliness, but equally, with the Grifone’s season drifting towards the summer, one can’t expect them to be the most stern opponents to Sassuolo the following week.

 

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