Sassuolo Club Focus: Application and determination…

Date: 9th October 2013 at 11:44pm
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Our headline this week is made up of the two words coach Eusebio di Francesco mentioned as being sorely lacking after his side went down 3-1, away to Parma.

The tactician was visibly disappointed, especially after the last two morale boosting draws with Napoli and Lazio.  The defeat by Roberto Donadoni’s men was a step backwards for the Neroverdi and has left di Francesco scratching his head once more.

The former Lecce coach was quick to point out that it makes no sense to talk about tactics and formations when you allow a lapses of concentration in Serie A games.

He told reporters, “We conceded the third goal from a free kick where nobody reacted.  You cannot allow this to happen in a game with 20 minutes left to play.

“It has nothing to do with formation and we did create chances ourselves. At the start of the season we played with four at the back.  We had some issues so we’ve now moved to a defensive five but it tires me to talk numbers.

“Without the right determination and application, we are always going to struggle.”

This week was probably the first time all season he has been critical of his players.  Up until now, di Francesco has defended his team and their efforts given the club’s rise to the top flight but now the honey moon period, it appears, is over.

He wants a reaction from his players and he wants it before his side become cut adrift from the main bunch and survival becomes a problem not only on the pitch but in the mind.

For those who did not see the game, it must be mentioned that Parma were down to 10 men for most of the match.  A fact that makes the manner of this defeat even harder to swallow for the under pressure coach.

Fortunately for Sassuolo, the international break has come at just the right time.  The teaeusebio di francesco sassuolo parmam can relax and take stock to think about their current plight and how best to overcome it.

They do have three players that are on duty – Luca Antei (Italy U21), Reto Ziegler (Switzerland) and Jasmin Kurtic (Slovenia).  Hopefully the three players will come through unscathed and ready to face Bologna once Serie A returns.

Luca Marrone is still a doubt for that game and it must be hugely frustrating that the deadline day arrival has yet to feature for his new club.  The Juventus midfielder, loaned to Sassuolo, not only has experience playing in Italy’s premier division but he can also bring the steel to the central midfield that remains a problem area for the team.  Di Francesco will be desperate to have this option available to him as soon as possible, as the young player certainly can bring the application and determination he currently craves.

The rest of the team will once again be quite similar to that which we have seen over the last two weeks with further suggestions that Simone Zaza and Antonio Floro Flores are battling over the shirt that partners Domenico Berardi.

Bologna are in huge difficulties themselves and this would be an ideal time for the Neroverdi to achieve their first win in Serie A.  Alessandro Diamanti and co. might have other ideas but these are now the ‘must win’ games that Sassuolo will have to finish victorious if they are to have any chance of survial.  They cannot rely on super human efforts against the top guns of Italian football.  They need to win and win dirty if need be.

Di Francesco bemoaned his side’s lack of ‘cattiveria’, a difficult word to translate into English.  The best we can probably do, in footballing terms, is to suggest it means ‘cunning’ or perhaps ‘a devilish intelligence’.  Certainly inexperience is usually the reason behind a lack of ‘cattiveria’ but the team will have to overcome this issue, until the January transfer window at least.

However, the only words that we are really concerned with are the one’s we end each club focus and they need no translation…

Forza Sasol!

 

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