Coppa Italia – Round 4 – Serie A teams making their appearance
By David, BettingExpert.com | Published
The big teams start making their appearances in the fourth round of the Italian cup. The more famous of the teams in action is surely Fiorentina. Most of the opponents for Serie A teams are squads from the lower division. Neither should bother much about the cup at this stage though and we will have to rely on reserve players’ ambitions to get back into the managers’ plans in order to enjoy some action.
Bologna – Crotone
Pioli’s start as Bologna manager has been excellent. The continuation of that adventure less so however. Di Vaio and co. in fact, are coming from two straight defeats, both well deserved, that have left them just two points above the danger line.
Crotone are not doing much better for themselves in Italy’s second tier league. They are three points off the bottom. The stalemate with Torino augurs well but with a game at Cittadella scheduled for Saturday the manager is sure to give this match less importance.
Pioli’s davtange is that his next match is on Sunday. A difficult trip to hungry Cagliari however. He too will be fielding a reserve side.
The home side will still be able to give a run to some good players. Playmaker Diamanti, ex-West Ham, has recovered from a long layoff and will be eager to inspire this side to a victory. The two strikers will be talented duo Gimenez and Vantaggiato. Khrin and Casarini will be in midfield. Garics is set for the left-back position while Portanova will most likely retain his place in the heart of defence.
Verdict: 1
It will be a largely changed side for Bologna but so should Crotone. The two clubs need to focus primarily on their precarious position in the respective tables. Pioli, however, can count on a number of players eager to show they should get their chance with the starting eleven in Serie A matches.
Genoa – Bari
Having gone through a dark patch last season, losing one game after the other in the top flight, president Matarrese decided to go against what his heart was telling him and sacked manager Ventura. Today he is the manager of Torino, the Serie B leaders with 15 points ahead of Bari.
It has been a difficult season for them. Well below expectations at least but the hopes are that Torrente, Bari’s manager, can rekindle old victorious memories at Genoa and set things straight for the club from now onwards. They are coming from a draw against Genoa-based Sampdoria and an away draw against the table-toppers so their form should be fine.
Malesani’s men come from a match made difficult by Antonelli’s relatively early dismissal. They still played better than newly promoted Novara though and dominated play until they found the het.
Verdict: 1
Home advantage really plays in favour of Genoa. The response may not be as good from the crowd for this game but I think Genoa can egde this with the players Malesani will opt for.
Fiorentina – Empoli
Delio Rossi kicked off his career with the Viola quite well. They were not the better team on the pitch against Milan on Saturday but held on well. There seems to be good motivation and despite still missing out on Jovetic’s contribution Rossi should be able to build a strong side capable of not depending solely on the Montenegro player for inspiration.
The derby with Empoli is next on their agenda but Rossi will already be thinking about his return to beloved Palermo. He spent great days there and the city still love him for what he brought to Palermo. Amongst other things he managed to take them one step away from winning the Coppa Italia. They eventually lost the final to Inter last season.
Empoli should not be such a menace for Fiorentina. At least that is what the Serie B standings say. However, there has been marked improvement lately. They managed to keep three clean sheets in a row, making it four in total from 16 games.
Verdict: Over2.5
It is a cup game but it still is a derby. Rossi should feel comfortable returning to this competition and it will be a chance to teach his players some attacking moves. He is known for attacking football after all. Empoli can attribute their poor showing mostly to a weak defence. They remedied for that in recent games but I’m not sure they can repeat those displays at the Artemio Franchi.
Cagliari – Siena
Three defeats in a row for Cagliari but only the last one can be attributed to new manager Ballardini. New is perhaps not the right word to choose given that this is his third advent on the Sardegna-based club’s bench.
The home side are coming from a narrow loss against Inter while the visitors, Siena, will be facing them next Sunday. Despite being a narrow one for Cagliari, and that the first goal was an offside, they were undone fair and square by the Nerazzurri. Siena produced some sloppy defending to allow “el Tanke” Denis to take visiting Atalanta twice ahead in the last match.
Calaio seems to be missed when not on the pitch but all in all they had a good showing. Sannino will once again be without his captain and has already aid that he actually intends on playing a number of reserves for this game.
Ballardini has to be careful not to make it four subsequent defeats for the club. The Sunday afternoon match against Bologna is his priority. Fringe players should take centre stage.
Verdict: Under2.5
Cagliari’s second string players are too much weaker than the first team. The likes of Ibarbo, however, can wreck havoc in any defence. Sannino will be playing reserves too but as he usually does on away turf he should be giving out instructions to keep it cautious.
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