3 points, 3 victories, 3rd place...

Pizzighettone 0-1 Venezia

Massimo Taccucci, our right back, gave us all three points yesterday to hand us our third victory in a row and propel us into third place in the league.

A brilliant first half display saw us go in 1-0 up thanks to Taccucci getting to the rebound after Gennari had headed the ball against the bar from a corner in the 40th minute. Moro had the chance to double our lead two minutes later, but his header was off target.

Pizzighettone came at us in the second half, but only created one real chance which Lotti did well to save. At the other end, Taccucci nearly made it two with a spectacular overhead effort that crashed off the bar.

Okay, so Pizzighettone aren't the strongest (they now sit second bottom with 6 points), but it was important to continue our run of victories. Next week brings another away game, and derby, against Cittadella. A victory there and we really will be flying.

Serie C1/A

1. Monza P 8 W 5 D 2 L 1 GF 16 GA 7 Pts 17
2. Sassuolo P 8 W 4 D 4 L 0 GF 10 GA 5 Pts 16
3. Venezia P 8 W 4 D 3 L 1 GF 10 GA 7 Pts 15
4. Lucchese P 8 W 4 D 2 L 2 GF 11 GA 4 Pts 14
5. Pro Sesto P 8 W 3 D 3 L 2 GF 6 GA 6 Pts 12
6. Pro Patria P 8 W 3 D 3 L 2 GF 9 GA 10 Pts 12

Gennari Gol!

Venezia 2 - 1 Pavia

Another victory, and finally we can start to think about promotion again this season.

A good performance in the first half saw us go 2-0 through a Poggi penalty and Gennari, but we allowed Pavia back into the game midway through the second half which made for a nervy finale.

Nonetheless, it was the first time this season we were able to win back-to-back games, and that is an encouraging sign. There is still plenty to do, but we suddenly seem to have found our ability to score (Gennari in particular). We have two away games in a row now, but if we can come out of them with 4 points or better, we will be in good shape. Let's not forget it was about this stage last season when we started to slip into gear on our run of 11 victories in a row...that may not be realistic in C1A, but hopefully we can be challenging for top spot around Christmas.

League Table:

1. Monza P 7 W 5 D 2 L 0 GF 16 GA 5 Pts 17
2. Sassuolo P 7 W 4 D 3 L 0 GF 10 GA 5 Pts 15
3. Lucchese P 7 W 4 D 1 L 2 GF 10 GA 3 Pts 13
4. Venezia P 7 W 3 D 3 L 1 GF 9 GA 7 Pts 12

Last Train from Georgia

Last night's victory has certainly given the group a better look from an Italian point of view. Coupled with Scotland's loss in Ukraine, it means we sit only two points behind the leaders going into the winter break in international matches.

To be honest, it wasn't the greatest performance - in my opinion, we played worse than on Saturday, but that matters not a lot at the moment. The important thing was to get a victory out of this tricky away fixture and we managed that.

Looking at the match itself, De Rossi's opener was a good strike from 35 yards, but in truth, a decent keeper would have saved his shot. But then we seemed to sit back a little, and Georgia scored from their first shot on goal, before hitting the post with their second just before half time. In between, Toni had missed a sitter from 6 yards out.

The second half was looking pretty grim as it seemed our players - and the midfielders in particular - weren't entirely sure where they were meant to be playing, with Pirlo in particular looking out of sorts (though to be fair he hadn't trained since the Ukraine game due to a cold). But just as he was about to be subbed, the game turned when Pirlo was first fouled to get a man sent off, before a sublime reverse pass to Di Natale allowed him to cross for Camo to power a header into the bottom corner. From then on, we were in control, and Perrotta added a third via a deflection.

Overall, we did deserve to win, but it wasn't a vintage performance. But, as I say, who cares? We now sit third in the group, and Donadoni has 5 months to work on his tactics.

Both games this week have shown me enough to say Donadoni does deserve more time in the job. Di Natale, despite my skepticism, is a decent addition to the squad. But perhaps his best move - and the one that shows he is his own man - was his decision to drop Del Piero not just from the team, but even from the subs bench last night. Del Piero's days at this level are done, his lack of pace too much of a hinderance now. It was refreshing to see Donadoni took the hard decision to realise that.

Next up - Scotland, a match I fully intend to travel to. After reading more comments this morning that "Italy are there for the taking", I am even more determined to be there when we slot a couple of goals past them!

Forza Azzurrini!

Great result - and performance - from Casiraghi's boys tonight, picking up a 2-1 victory in Spain to send them into the finals of the U21 championships in the Netherlands next summer.

After weathering an early storm, they were soon 2-0 up thanks to two absolutely fantastic goals. The first came from Chiellini, a left footed, outside of the boot lob from 35 yards over the Spanish keeper. And just when you thought you wouldn't see a better goal for a while, Palladino broke into the box on the left, ran to the goal line, crossed to the far side where Montolivo met the ball with as sweet a right footed volley back across the goalkeeper as you will see.

The final half hour was made a bit nervy after Spain got the goal, but in truth, they rarely threatened. Instead, they just moaned and got dirtier as the match went on, getting the inevitable straight red for one of their players fouling Montolivo off the ball near the end. That Soldado in particular looks like a dirty little moaner - no doubt a player I will be shouting more abuse at over the next few years!

The encouraging thing from the perspective of the full Nazionale is that so many of these boys look like they could be real stars in the future - Rosina, Pelle, Curci, Andreolli, Potenza, Aquilani...the list goes on. But the best two tonight were the goalscorers themselves, Chiellini and Montolivo, who I suspect will break into the full squad before too long if they continue playing like this.

Forza Azzurini!

Back on Track

Venezia 2-1 Pistoiese

Our season got back on track - just - against Pistoiese on Sunday.

After an excellent first half which saw Gennari and Moro put us 2-0, our game dropped off in the second half again, nearly letting Pistoiese scrape a point. Fortunately, we were able to hold on to three valuable points, which puts us back up to 6th in the table.

Next up is another home game against Pavia, who are one place above us in the table. If we can pick up another three points then we can consider ourselves back in the hunt for promotion. If not...well, let's not worry about that just now.

Finalmente!

Finally, a good result for the Azzurri yesterday! And perhaps more encouraging than the result, the performance in general was good as well.

Winning was of course vital after Scotland's heroics earlier in the day, and I'll admit to starting to feel nervous after the hour mark when it was still goaless. But then came one of the most blatant penalties I've seen in a while, followed shortly after by a simply brilliant goal from Luca Toni.

I'm not convinced he picked the correct starting XI - Del P and Iaquinta forming two prongs of a trident attack offers not a lot down the wings; last night proved (again?) Del P just doesn't have the pace for that level anymore, and we looked far more sprightly when Di Natale came on. Also, Iaquinta is a player of limited skill - yes, he did okay last night, but he can't beat a man, and he's not that good a striker. Camo would be a better choice down that wing in my opinion, but apparently he had a slight injury so could only come on as a sub.

I should also say that Di Natale was the surprise of the night - as I said, he changed the game, and his link up play with Toni (not just his brilliant ball for the 2nd, but also a superb one-two that nearly lead to a great third) was superb. Maybe I am just trying to justify my previous criticism of his selection, but I'm not so sure it was Di Natale that made the difference, so much as the introduction of a winger with some pace...but whatever, it was a good tactical change by Donadoni.

Apart from that, Buffon was superb, and the defence looked a bit more solid than it has recently. Pirlo and Gattuso were, as ever, great.

That's part one done. Now let's get a win on Wednesday and we will truly be back in the hunt in the group. Altogether now - PO PO PO PO PO PO, SIAMO CAMPIONI DEL MONDO....

Gila Drops Out

Donadoni's latest squad hardly does enough to dispel the doubts surrounding his capabilities as manager.

Okay, so it is heartening to see the likes of Nesta, Materazzi (who'd have thought I'd be happy to see him 4 months ago), Camo and Del P back. But it is the players who are not in the squad that are the cause for concern.

Let's start with Gila - easily Italy's best young striker, who scored, let's not forget, against France last time out. Okay, he's not in great form for Milan, but I've seen him in a few games this season and he is playing well, just not scoring. I don't understand the decision to drop him in favour of someone like Di Natale, a man with no international pedigree whatsoever and who is hardly banging the goals in himself. If he wanted to gamble, why not gamble on someone like Rolando Bianchi who is in top form? But whatever, I wouldn't have dropped Gila. It just doesn't make sense to be dropping one of our best players.

And then there's Cassano. He's a trickier argument - he seems to have fallen out of favour at Real already this season, so I suppose there's the lack of games argument. But then again, he is a tremendously skilful player and offers us something that our other forwards don't. Again, I don't see why he is out of the squad.

I think it says something about Donadoni as a manager that he built his attack around Cassano in the last two games and yet know he can't even make the squad. To me, it indicates that he's flapping around looking for a team, a formation, and he doesn't really have a clear idea of how he should be playing in his head.

I can only hope I'm wrong and that Donadoni and Di Natale can make me eat my words come Saturday. Let's hope so anyway...

Full Squad:

Portieri: Buffon, Abbiati, Amelia.
Difensori: Zaccardo, Barzagli, Cannavaro, Grosso, Zambrotta, Nesta, Oddo, Materazzi, Pasqual.
Centrocampisti: Camoranesi, Pirlo, Gattuso, De Rossi, Perrotta, Mauri, Delvecchio.
Attaccanti: Del Piero, Di Michele, Di Natale, Iaquinta, F. Inzaghi, Toni.

Oh dear...

Sangiovannese 2-1 Venezia

Well, that didn't go according to plan. A terrible result yesterday has seen us drop even further down the table. Let's not forget San Giovannese were bottom of the league with 1 point until yesterday. Now they're only a couple behind us.

Gennari got our goal in the 94th minute, but it was too little, too late. Apparently we gifted them two goals, but even so I'd have hoped we could create more chances to score, particularly given the fact that they went down to 9 men towards the closing stages. Unless we can get a couple of wins on the trot, any hopes we had of achieving promotion will fast disappear...I'm hoping this isn't going to turn into a blog about whether we can actually stay up in C1!!!