A Difficult First Half...

You know one of the main reasons I want Venezia to get promoted? So I can actually watch them on TV. I mean, sure, I want them to get promoted so they play better teams, sign better players, maybe fight occasionally for the dream of Serie A...but right now, mainly I want them to get promoted so I don't have to try and follow them the way I did on Saturday.

What am I talking about? The game was meant to be on Rai Tre - but only in the Tuscany area. I still had a (perhaps foolish) hope that it would be on dad's satellite as he got his box and card in Tuscany...but he phoned me at lunchtime to say it didn't look like it would be. So I told him to check out a channel called 50 Canale, a local Pisa channel that somehow he picks up and which had shown the last game of the regular season. He phoned me 15 minutes before kick off to say it appeared to be on - they were live from the Stadio Penzo, interviewing the Pisa President on TV. I jumped in the car and drove across. By the time I got there, it was clear he was wrong. Well, kind of.

50 Canale was showing the game...or rather, not the game, but the crowd. Yes, that's right, the crowd. And their commentators occasionally. It was something that could only happen in Italy, but the camera was live, filming mainly the Pisa end, occasionally zooming in as it swung round to avoid showing any of the game, leaving us looking at their commentators.

More farcical was the fact that they would occasionally cut to a young guy wearing a jacket and tie in a studio in Pisa, clearly watching the game on Rai 3. Despite the commentator being at the game, he would sometimes pick up his mobile (I'm not kidding) and phone the studio to speak to this young guy for a technical analysis. He would proceed to talk, his sentences pausing as he watched the game, his hand covering his mouth when Venezia attacked. It was comical. But worse than that, it was like watching the game (or not watching the game) with a bunch of mad Pisa fans.

All we got from kick off was how Pisa were better, Venezia were rubbish etc etc. Obviously I couldn't see the game, so I kind of had to take their word for it - except that even through their nerazzurro-tinted glasses it sounded like we were all over them (I have since read unbiased reports to say that we were). But the first half ended 0-0 despite that pressure, our best chance coming from Poggi in the very first minute when he contrived to scuff a shot from a yard out to allow a defender to clear off the line.

After some more bias analysis at half time, we kicked off the second half, Marco Moro (an attacker) on for Taccucci (our right back). Just as we were back in the studio with jacket-and-tie man in Pisa analysing the substitution. Suddenly his face crumpled though and I knew before he had said it - we had scored! MARCO MORO!!!! What a start to the second half!

After that, according to our Pisan friends, it was all pressure from Pisa. The unbiased reports don't quite agree - we had chances to score the second, but they did push on more, that much is true. However, just when the game was almost done, disaster. The 88th minute and as we attack, they hit us on a classic counter attack - 1-1. Cue the biased prats on 50 Canale celebrating as if they had scored the goals themselves. Impartial commentary this was not - I almost put my fist through the TV screen. They then get a man and their manager sent off as they struggle to hold on, but they manage it.

Advantage Pisa - because of the rules of the playoffs, we must win this weekend in Pisa, as they finished above us in the regular season. However, I am not too despondent. True, we've one one game away all season, and that was away to Pizzighettone (17th), but by all accounts (apart from 50 Canale) we were the better team on Saturday. It will be tough, but I think we could just about do it. They're without their best defender as well, which helps. Mister Di Costanzo says that 1-1 is better than 1-0, because we now know we have to attack. True, but I'm not sure I would have felt as gutted on Saturday had we won!

Anyway, the next report will hopefully be a first hand one - my flight to Pisa is booked, but the ticket for the Venezia end is still up in the air. I have my best people on it though, so hopefully I will be amongst the 950 arancioneroverdi supporters in Pisa on Sunday. I admit, I go more in hope than expectation, but something in me believes we can do it.

Remember that famous Tuscan saying: "Meglio un morto in casa che un Pisano alla porta!"

FORZA VENEZIA!

A Return To Form

I know, I know - I haven't posted for a while. This is mainly down to laziness, but also due to the fact that I think there's only about three of you that read this! However, given the position Venezia find themselves in, I feel I must return to my blogging ways...

So since I last wrote, Venezia went through a very up and down period. A horrible run at the start of April where we picked up only 3 points from four games saw us plummet from second to fifth, and any hopes of winning the championship outright were gone. More worringly, it looked like the playoffs were going to elude us as well. The last four games of the season were Grosseto (1st place) away, Sassuolo (2nd) at home, Lucchese (7th) away and Pisa (3rd) at home. Add the fact that one of our main competitors for a playoff spot, Monza, had a better head to head record against us, and it meant our hopes were hanging by a very thin thread.

But in the face of adversity, there's hope - and somehow we threw aside our miserable form to go on a great run. A gutsy 0-0 draw away to Grosseto was followed by a convincing 2-0 home victory over Sassuolo. Another 0-0 away to Lucchese (you didn't expect us to win away?!) meant we had to beat Pisa at home to stand any chance of making the playoffs. But it wasn't that simple. We also needed either Cremonese to hold Cittadella to a draw, or for Pizzighettone (17th) to get an unlikely away victory at Monza. The latter, of course, was never going to happen, but the former? We could but hope...

I actually managed to find out the game was being shown on an obscure channel that dad had n his satellite, so we settled down to watch it - Venezia-Pisa, the culmination of a season in 90 minutes. Pisa needed a win, you see, to try and win the league outright. It was a predictably tight affair with few chances. I kept checking the internet for the Cremonese-Cittadella score. 30 mins - 0-0. HT 0-0. 60 mins 0-0. Please boys, get us a goal...

Unfortunately, it just looked like one of those days it was never going to happen. It was a tight cagey affair (unsurprising given Pisa are the league masters of the 0-0 - they are the true old-school Italian team). 85 mins - I check the score in the Cittadella game. Still 0-0. If only we could score, the playoffs would be ours! But it just didn't look likely. We were pressuring Pisa more, the news of Grosseto winning meaning that they had no chance of winning the league, but we weren't really creating anything. 90 mins. I check the Cittadella score again - still 0-0. If only we could have scored. Me and Dad start saying how it was a good season anyway, but that it may be tough for the team to lift themselves for the challenge next season. It's not an easy league to get out of and they had set themselves up to push for it this season. It was a shame it had to end this way.

Then the 95th minute - Rebecca gets the ball in the left hand corner of the pitch. He looks up and plays a pass across the edge of the box to Romondini, who manages to hit a fairly weak shot...I'm already almost cursing when the net bulges!! GOL!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOL GOL GOL!!!!! YES!!! They did it, they did it! How they did it, I don't know - the shot was crap, but it was right in the corner and the Pisa keeper seemed to see it late and by the time he dived he only succeeded in helping it into the net. Cue myself and dad jumping around like madmen - I look back at the TV. It's over - Romondini scored with literally the last kick of the game!

I checked the internet quickly and awaited the final score from Cremonese - 0-0! We were there, and by the narrowest of margins. Venezia, Monza and Cittadella finished on the same points, but in the little league table involving only games between us, we also all had the same points (5)! However, we had a +1 goal difference, Monza had 0 and Cittadella had -1. Talk about a close call! Monza and ourselves in the playoffs, Cittadella miss out by a goal.

So, here we are. Saturday is the first leg of our playoff semi-final, where incredibly we meet Pisa again. We're at home in the first leg, and given our away form this season, we need a win or we're done for I think. It will be very very tough, but I think the boys have rediscovered their belief after losing it only 5 or 6 weeks ago. Next week is the Pisa leg - a match I hope to go to, if I can get tickets in the away end (and it's worth going to - ie. we don't lose 2-0 at home or something). Exciting times in the Laguna...here's hoping for even more excitement over the next few weeks!

FORZA VENEZIA!

Another Away Defeat

Pistoiese 2-1 Venezia

This is getting tiresome now. Every time we play a team in trouble away from home, we seem to end up helping them out.

Mayer gave away a stupid penalty after 15 minutes, and after that we struggled to do anything - we didn't even manage a shot on target in the second half, even though we scored (an amazing own goal by Pistoiese's Gheller). By all accounts everyone had a poor match, not least il Mister, Di Costanzo, whose changes were perplexing - taking off our best player in the first half, Scantamburlo (our left back) for Pradolin (our left winger - who should have started anyway).

I don't understand how we can be good at home and so awful away from home. It has clearly turned into a bit of a mental block, which is a worrying thing as we surely cannot win the league if we can't pick up 3 points away from home occasionally.

The dismay was tempered somewhat by the other results, which saw Pisa losing and Grosseto only drawing with Lucchese, but it just means the league is now closer than ever. Next up is another away game to a struggling team, this time Pavia, followed by a home game against Pizzighettone. If we don't pick up 6 points from those two games, I think our hopes of winning the league will be sinking faster than a gondola with some very large holes in it.

Serie C1/A:

1. Grosseto P 22 W 9 D 10 L 3 GF 30 GA 20 Pts 37
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2. Sassuolo P 22 W 10 D 7 L 5 GF 27 GA 17 Pts 37
3. Venezia P 22 W 10 D 7 L 5 GF 28 GA 19 Pts 37
4. Pisa P 22 W 9 D 10 L 3 GF 18 GA 10 Pts 37
5. Cittadella P 22 W 9 D 9 L 4 GF 28 GA 19 Pts 36
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6. Lucchese P 22 W 9 D 8 L 5 GF 30 GA 16 Pts 35
7. Monza P 22 W 8 D 9 L 5 GF 25 GA 20 Pts 33
8. Novara P 22 W 8 D 6 L 8 GF 25 GA 27 Pts 30
9. Padova P 22 W 8 D 5 L 9 GF 23 GA 20 Pts 29
10. Sangiovannese P 22 W 7 D 7 L 8 GF 28 GA 33 Pts 28
11. Pistoiese P 22 W 6 D 9 L 7 GF 18 GA 20 Pts 27
12. Pro Sesto P 22 W 7 D 6 L 9 GF 14 GA 16 Pts 27
13. Massese P 22 W 5 D 11 L 6 GF 21 GA 22 Pts 26
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14. Cremonese P 22 W 6 D 7 L 9 GF 23 GA 26 Pts 25
15. Pro Patria P 22 W 5 D 8 L 9 GF 18 GA 30 Pts 23
16. Ivrea P 22 W 6 D 4 L 12 GF 16 GA 27 Pts 22
17. Pavia P 22 W 4 D 6 L 12 GF 20 GA 34 Pts 18
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18. Pizzighettone P 22 W 3 D 9 L 10 GF 14 GA 30 Pts 18

And Then There Were Two...

Venezia 2-1 Sangiovannese

Okay, the title isn't particularly accurate - This league is still as close as ever, but for now, it's just us and Pisa sitting at the top of the tree.

Before I get to the match report, I should mention the events in Italy over the past couple of weeks. As some noticed (martinobhoy, I'm looking at you), I haven't posted since the last match. After the events in Catania I was going to put up a post with my thoughts on the matter, but decided against it for the simple reason that everyone has written and commented on it. I'll therefore limit my comments to this: It good change finally seems to be happening, and it is unfortunate that it took Raciti's death for this to happen, but I do think there is a danger in getting carried away with the whole thing. Every country has their problems with this, and every country needs to try and deal with it in their own way. As Ginkers said in his blog, the sanctimonious crap that much of the media over here has been spouting is not helpful, not to mention downright irritating. Here's hoping that we can actually make big strides to dealing with our own problem so the English media need to look elsewhere for their digs at foreigners.

Sorry, rant over! Anyway, back to the game - and by the sounds of things, I think it was the best performance since the new year. In particular, Romondini seems to make a big difference to the team with his creativity, having a hand in both goals (scored in each half by Moro and Pradolin). Sangiovannese grabbed a late goal back from the penalty spot, but we had a third disallowed shortly after, supposedly for a foul on the keeper.

Encouraging signs, then. But we could certainly do with going on a run to try and put some daylight between us and the other promotion contenders. I say this because I have again just looked at our run in at the end of the season, when we play Grosseto (currently the form team, with 5 wins out their last 5 matches), Lucchese, Sassuolo and Pisa in the last four weeks of the season; all of them our direct rivals for promotion. If we've not got a bit of a buffer between us and at least some of them, it will be a nervy four weeks! Next up, and away game at Pistoia - a game we should be looking at winning, although given our recent away form, I hope that is not asking too much!

Serie C1/A:

1. Venezia P 21 W 10 D 7 L 3 GF 27 GA 17 Pts 37
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2. Pisa P 21 W 9 D 10 L 2 GF 17 GA 8 Pts 37
3. Grosseto P 21 W 9 D 9 L 3 GF 28 GA 18 Pts 36
4. Lucchese P 21 W 9 D 7 L 5 GF 28 GA 14 Pts 34
5. Sassuolo P 21 W 9 D 7 L 5 GF 26 GA 17 Pts 34
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6. Cittadella P 21 W 8 D 9 L 4 GF 27 GA 19 Pts 33
7. Monza P 21 W 8 D 8 L 5 GF 24 GA 19 Pts 32
8. Novara P 21 W 8 D 6 L 7 GF 25 GA 26 Pts 30
9. Pro Sesto P 20 W 7 D 6 L 8 GF 14 GA 15 Pts 27
10. Sangiovannese P 21 W 7 D 6 L 8 GF 27 GA 32 Pts 27
11. Padova P 21 W 7 D 5 L 9 GF 21 GA 19 Pts 26
12. Massese P 21 W 5 D 10 L 6 GF 20 GA 21 Pts 25
13. Pistoiese P 21 W 5 D 9 L 7 GF 16 GA 19 Pts 24
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14. Cremonese P 21 W 5 D 7 L 9 GF 22 GA 26 Pts 22
15. Pro Patria P 21 W 5 D 7 L 9 GF 17 GA 29 Pts 22
16. Ivrea P 21 W 6 D 3 L 12 GF 15 GA 26 Pts 21
17. Pavia P 21 W 4 D 6 L 11 GF 20 GA 33 Pts 18
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18. Pizzighettone P 21 W 3 D 8 L 10 GF 13 GA 29 Pts 17

Get Ready for a Rough Ride...

Venezia 2-2 Massese

This has to go down as another missed opportunity...even though we climbed back to the top of the table (on a joint basis).

We fought back from 1 down to take a 2-1 lead in the first half, but Massesse equalised halfway through the second and until that point were by all accounts the better team (Aprea had to save a penalty for us on the stroke of halftime).

However, Massesse then got a man sent off and we apparently went all out for a winner, but were unable to find one. The referee didn't help, failing to award a penalty for a clear foul on Rebecca, and then failing to award another for a handball in the area from a cross by Corradi.

Sadly, this result reflects the fact that we have yet to hit top gear again after the break, and a tricky away tie to Monza on Sunday doesn't look too appetising from that point of view (although Monza themselves seem to have suffered a loss of form recently). The form teams are Grosseto and Pisa, the latter managing a 1-0 win over league leaders Sassuolo.

The league table is incredibly tight, and a couple of results could see you plummet or climb very quickly. It's going to be a rough ride until the end of the season...

Serie C1/A:

1. Sassuolo P 20 W 9 D 7 L 4 GF 26 GA 15 Pts 34
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2. Venezia P 20 W 9 D 7 L 3 GF 25 GA 16 Pts 34
3. Pisa P 20 W 8 D 10 L 2 GF 15 GA 7 Pts 34
4. Grosseto P 20 W 8 D 9 L 3 GF 25 GA 18 Pts 33
5. Monza P 20 W 8 D 7 L 5 GF 23 GA 18 Pts 31
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6. Lucchese P 19 W 8 D 6 L 5 GF 26 GA 14 Pts 30 *
7. Cittadella P 20 W 7 D 9 L 4 GF 25 GA 19 Pts 30
8. Novara P 20 W 8 D 6 L 6 GF 24 GA 24 Pts 30
9. Pro Sesto P 20 W 7 D 6 L 7 GF 14 GA 13 Pts 27
10. Sangiovannese P 19 W 7 D 5 L 7 GF 26 GA 30 Pts 26 *
11. Massese P 20 W 5 D 10 L 5 GF 19 GA 19 Pts 25
12. Padova P 20 W 7 D 4 L 9 GF 20 GA 18 Pts 25
13. Pistoiese P 20 W 5 D 9 L 6 GF 16 GA 16 Pts 24
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14. Cremonese P 20 W 5 D 6 L 9 GF 20 GA 24 Pts 21
15. Pro Patria P 20 W 5 D 6 L 9 GF 15 GA 27 Pts 21
16. Ivrea P 20 W 6 D 2 L 12 GF 14 GA 25 Pts 20
17. Pavia P 20 W 4 D 5 L 11 GF 19 GA 32 Pts 17
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18. Pizzighettone P 20 W 2 D 8 L 10 GF 11 GA 28 Pts 14

*one game in hand

Updated League Table

As promised, here is the top of the league table:

1. Sassuolo P 19 W 9 D 7 L 3 GF 26 GA 14 Pts 34
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2. Venezia P 18 W 9 D 6 L 3 GF 23 GA 14 Pts 33
3. Pisa P 19 W 7 D 10 L 2 GF 14 GA 7 Pts 31
4. Lucchese P 19 W 8 D 6 L 5 GF 26 GA 14 Pts 30
5. Cittadella P 19 W 7 D 9 L 3 GF 25 GA 18 Pts 30
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6. Grosseto P 19 W 7 D 9 L 3 GF 24 GA 18 Pts 30
7. Monza P 19 W 8 D 6 L 5 GF 23 GA 18 Pts 30

Couple of bits of news to add as well; first, we look to be signing Matteo Momente' who was an Inter youth player I think who was supposed to be quite good, and should add some spice to our attack; second, I forgot to mention that it is also Pisa - Sassuolo this weekend, which surely has 0-0 written all over it, so hopefully another chance to climb back to the top of the table!

Friday Night Blues

Padova 1-0 Venezia

I know, I know - it's taken me a few days to update the blog. In part that's because I'm a lazy so and so, but also, it's because of the disappointment of last Friday's result.

The game was, of course, on TV, so I am more in more of a position than normal to discuss the game in detail, but the truth is, I have no real desire to! Between this result and the Pro Sesto result, I am starting to think being on TV is bad luck for us! To sum up, it was a frustrating game - we dominated for large spells, but although we had some nice moves and link up play (particularly involving Pradolin and Moro, two youngsters surely destined for bigger and better things), we hardly created a real chance.

Padova, on the other hand, created one - our defence fell asleep when their left winger got to the byline and pulled the ball back, allowing Russo to score an easy goal midway through the second half. We pressed for an equaliser, but again didn't really create anything, and though a draw would have been a fairer result, we couldn't say we deserved a goal. Collauto, so many times our most impressive player, had a particularly poor game down the right.

The good news was that Pisa lost 2-0 at Grosseto. Sassuolo managed a win though, meaning we slipped back to 2nd, one point off the top. Hardly a disaster, then, and the performance, up to the opponents penalty area, was in the main encouraging. Two other things also give me hope: first, Di Costanzo has come out and said we are not shooting enough as a team, which shows he recognises the problem; and two, our new signing Romondini is meant to be a creative link up man for the midfield and attack, and so should help us create more chances.

Massesse next, followed by a tricky away tie to Monza. 6 points there and we will be cruising, 4 and we'll be doing okay. Anything less, and I will really start to worry given how close the table actually is from about 10th place up...

(PS - I will post an updated table asap, just to show I'm not bitter. Can't be bothered at the moment!!)