Catania Club Focus: Do it, De Canio!

Date: 22nd October 2013 at 11:07am
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Just under 24 hours following Catania’s 2-1 defeat to Cagliari in Sardinia, the board decided to make a change on the touchline.

Rolando Maran, who coached the Rossazzurri to their best ever points total in 2012/13, was sacked on Sunday. He was immediately replaced by former Pescara and Udinese tactician Luigi De Canio.

De Canio was said to be the favourite to replace Sassuolo’s Eusebio Di Francesco if he got the boot. Finally, he has found another job after being fired by Genoa in 2012.

These events have shocked Sicily, considering that Maran was apparently so well liked by the media and hierarchy at the club. The 2013/14 season was supposed to be a building year on the project the Etnei started around 12 months ago, with a smidgen of rebuilding due to the departures of Francesco Lodi and Alejandro Gomez.

Many pundits claim that the acquisitions of Panagiotis Tachtsidis and Sebastian Leto for each outgoing player, respectively, was one of the reasons that Maran was let go. The other was the continually persistent individual mistakes committed mainly by the defence. Nicola Legrottaglie is the latest player to cost Catania valuable points, his sending off eventually led to the defeat on Saturday.

Rolando Maran Catania

In Maran’s defence, it’s rather unfair to pin a red card on the coach, but it’s been a recurring event, and it’s not just been expelled players.

Poor decisions on the ball, being out of position, and miscommunication have also led to the Elefanti conceding sloppy goals. Only recently has the attack started to click as well, what with Gonzalo Bergessio finally getting the service to score his first goal of the campaign after just 16 shots.

De Canio’s task is to now fortify the attack along with shoring up the defensive mistakes. They conceded just 99 goals over the past two seasons, but have still only allowed 13 through eight matches. The only times they’ve ever been exposed was when they’ve been chasing matches, something the new boss needs to fix.

Jaroslav Plasil - Catania

Even though Catania were a counter attacking team, they never had to come back from behind very often. In fact, when they were trailing, that’s when they often lost points.

De Canio’s first opportunity to help the Rossazzurri bounce back is against Sassuolo, ironically enough. Over the following six days, they face both Juventus and Napoli away, so it’s a big test for the new bench boss.

The squad may have been slightly altered over the summer, but it’s still good enough to compete for a Europa League spot. New signings like Tachtsidis, Leto, Fabian Monzon, along with Gino Peruzzi needed time to adjust to their new club, and, in some cases, their new country. That stage is nearly done with, so there should be no more excuses.

Whether or not sacking Maran was the correct decision won’t be known for a while, but it’s clear that he may not have been getting the most out of his squad. If the same errors keep popping up, it’s down to the coaching staff, De Canio may be the man to stop the bleeding.

 

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