Livorno Club Focus: Amaranto out to stop Inter

Date: 9th November 2013 at 2:19am
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On Saturday Davide Nicola and his Livorno team travel to Milan for one of the most eagerly anticipated fixtures for any newly promoted team: a trip to the Giuseppe Meazza to take on Inter.

The Amaranto are coming into the game off the back of a 1-0 victory over Atalanta, which seen them end their dreadful run of form where they went seven games without a win, only picking up a mere three points, although they arguably should have picked up many more.

Their opponents will not be short on confidence either as they put in another mightily impressive performance last week thumping Udinese 0-3 away from home last weekend, albeit against a very poor Zebrette team on the day.

The Nerazzurri are a new look team under ex-Livorno coach Walter Mazzarri and it will be arguably the toughest test of the season so far for the Tuscan side.

Both teams will almost certainly line up with their normal three at the back with five across the midfield and two strikers, although Inter will probably have Fredy Guarin or Ricardo Alvarez just in behind Rodrigo Palacio.

Of course Inter will have the advantage in terms of players but if Livorno can play a tactically astute game then maybe, just maybe, they can come away with a point or maybe even three.

Arguably the key feature of Mazzarri’s side is his emphasis on the wing-backs. Jonathan especially has enjoyed a renaissance under the new coach, being one of the key components in this Nerazzurri side along with Yuto Nagatomo on the opposite flank.

The former Napoli coach doesn’t like his team to build up the play slowly and try pass through teams; he has instead set the team up to almost bypass the midfield and switch it to the wide-men to try penetrate from the wings and it has been relatively successful so far this season as evident by the league high seven goals scored from crosses.

Nicola will almost certainly look to neutralize the threat posed by Inter’s wing-backs, possibly by dropping a midfielder into the wings to help most likely Pasquale Schiattarella and Ibrahima Mbaye in the right and left wing-back positions, respectively and double-up on the the two Nerazzurri wing-backs.

The will also need to try stop the Argentine attacking duo of Alvarez and Palacio, who have been arguably Inter’s best performers this season after Hugo Campagnaro who is injured for the upcoming clash.

Alvarez’ trickery and ability to take men on is a huge threat while Palacio is a constant threat with his work-rate, movement and his finishing ability – with the former Genoa man already netting six goals and he also has four assists to his name this season.

One area where Mazzarri’s men are no doubt susceptible is at the back, especially without star center-back Campagnaro. If the Amaranto are able to put pressure on the Inter back-line and try force them into errors high up the pitch, they could definitely have some joy.

So in theory all they have to do is this: Stop the Inter wing backs, stop Palacio and Alvarez and keep possession well enough to put pressure on the Nerazzurri defense. Easy, right? Well, maybe not. They must do these things just to stand a chance let alone win.

The Tuscans will also be without three key players in Leandro Greco, Andrea Coda and also Leandro Rinaudo who are suspended for the match. Oh yeah, and I almost forgot to mention, Inter are unbeaten in their last 13 games against Livorno in Serie A, with 11 wins and two draws.

So it looks as if the Amaranto have no chance! However, you never know in football and they will probably will go and sneak a famous away win at San Siro after me writing all this and giving them seemingly no chance.

Just to add some extra spice to the game, four Inter youngsters who are on loan to Livorno are expected to start and play against their parent club. It looks as if Livorno have almost no chance tomorrow night, but as Justin Bieber would say ‘Never say never’

 

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