Still Unbeaten...

Massese 0-0 Venezia
Venezia 2-2 Monza

Four points thrown away, or two points gained in our last two games? Well, against Massese I think we probably should have won, but Monza were on top of the league, and by all accounts we outplayed them, so I still think we're on the right trail. Moro scored for the first time this season on Sunday after the ref had given them a dodgy penalty. He was our main goal threat last season, so it's good to see him getting amongst the goals. Zerbini is apparently looking pretty good as well, so if they gel no doubt we'll be banging the goals in! Sangiovannese on Sunday - they're bottom of the league with 1 point after 3 games, so if we don't win that one, we can perhaps start to worry...

1. Monza P4 W3 D1 L0 GF13 GA 4 Pts 10
2. Lucchese P4 W3 D0 L1 GF8 GA1 Pts 9
....
6. Pavia P4 W1 D3 L0 GF6 GA5 Pts 6
7. Pisa P4 W1 D3 L0 GF1 GA0 Pts 6
8. Venezia P4 W1 D3 L0 GF4 GA3 Pts6

Derby stalemate

Venezia 0-0 Padova

A goalless draw in the derby saw us drop out first points of the season yesterday, but given that Padova, along with Lucchese, are favourites for the league there is not too much to be disappointed about - despite Zerbini (ex Padova) missing a penalty for us in the 85th minute!

According to the reports, a draw was the least we deserved, which is an encouraging sign, particularly this early in the season. Hopefully we can build on this in the next few weeks, which sees us involved in a couple of tricky looking ties, away first to Massese and then home to Monza. Another 4 points from those games would cement our position as real challengers for back to back promotions.

Serie C1/A:

1. Monza P 2 W 2 D 0 L 0 GF 9 GA 1 Pts 6

2. Lucchese P 2 W 2 D 0 L 0 GF 6 GA 0 Pts 6

3. Sassuolo P 2 W 2 D 0 L 0 GF 5 GA 3 Pts 6

4. Pavia P 2 W 1 D 1 L 0 GF 3 GA 2 Pts 4

5. Venezia P 2 W 1 D 1 L 0 GF 2 GA 1 Pts 4

Forget Paris...

Well, what can you say? A poor, poor performance from the boys last night, and despite France's first goal being offside, and us being denied at least one penalty, you can't argue that we deserved to lose, so inept were we at creating a single chance from open play.

Okay, so we knew the French would be more up for it than us after losing the World Cup Final, and there is no shame in losing to France in France. They are a very good team after all. No, it was the performance that was worrying. With the exception of Gilardino, who did well when he could, and to a lesser extent, Grosso, Pirlo and Gattuso, everyone played poorly. And at least some of that must be Donadoni's fault.

I don't buy into the "lack of conditioning/fitness" argument - French players have only just started back and some of our players have been involved in Champions League qualifiers, and, of course, a couple now play abroad. Vieira looked pretty fit to me and he's with Inter. It is true that we never play that well in September, but playing so poorly was a worrying sign.

To me, the players Donadoni has drafted in are mediocre. For example, and no offence to the man, but who the hell is Gennaro Del Vecchio?? Where did he get the idea that Dainelli or Semioli can play at international level?? Playing well for Chievo is one thing. Playing at international level is quite another. He should be keeping with the world cup squad, where he can (and I see he is now talking about getting Totti, Del P, Toni etc for next month's games), and if he is wanting to draft a couple in, bring some of the younger promising talents - like Montolivio or Aquilani.

Add to that the fact that his tactics are at least misguided and, at worst, bizarre. Perrotta is not and never has been a right winger. The substitutions that he made last night were perplexing - it was obvious 5 minutes into the second half the midfield needed shored up and we needed to try and get hold of the ball, but instead he waited until we had conceded a third and then he brought on Di Michele, who didn't seem to know where he was meant to play. Then he brought on Inzaghi, when up front wasn't the area that needed fixing - midfield did. I think he would have been better to bring De Rossi on for Semioli and push Cassano out wide.

There is a school of thought (voiced by my cugino, amongst others) that Donadoni was put in there to tide things over until we can get one of the more established managers - eg. Ancelotti, Capello. Let's face it, taking over at the world champions is a pretty tough task as any slip up will be viewed as failure. But the fact is Donadoni has never proved himself at a high managerial level and has not been involved in big games like last night as a manager. Perhaps we are wrong to expect so much from him so soon - the difficulty is that at national level, unless you are in a group like England's, you don't get much time to bed in.

There are still 10 games to go, and two wins next month will put us in a fine position in the group, but the performances need to improve. The concern is that I am not sure that they will under Donadoni.

The Perfect Start

Ivrea 1 - 2 Venezia

That's a headline worth seeing! A great start from the boys on sunday - Pradolin and Zerbini were the goalscorers, but by the sounds of things, it was a great performance from everyone, only a last minute lapse in concentration allowing Ivrea to grab their consolation goal.

I know Ivrea were with us in C2 last season, but it was still important to get off to a good start, and we have done. There are tougher tests ahead, no doubt, but I think we can be quietly optimistic about the season ahead...

A Sign of Things To Come?

So the race to qualify for Euro 2008 has begun - and by the looks of things, it is going to be a long hard struggle for the Azzurri.

Last night's disappointing draw with Lithuania was, I have to say, not entirely unexpected - few of our players have played any competitive football so far this season, so much so that some who you would have thought would start (eg. Zambro, Toni) never got a look in - Toni of course not even being called up.

Focussing on the positives first, Cassano looks like he is back to his old self, and was easily our best player. He brings something to the side that is a bit different from any of our other attackers, and was unlucky not to score a fantastic goal last night.

The negatives - De Rossi and Perrotta. I know I won't be popular with Roma fans, but neither of them played well last night. I think they are both great players, but they looked off the pace last night. I don't think they are helped by Donadoni's tactics - they were both asked to play wide, when both are far better in the centre.

I also have to say, although he scored, I am not convinced we should be starting with Inzaghi ahead of Gila. Inzaghi is what he always is; frustrating, always moaning, falling over, offside. Gila on the other hand is very good at holding the ball up - better even than Toni. I think if we are only playing one striker, it should be him ahead of SuperPippo.

On the back of last night's performance, France on Wednesday does not look like an appetising proposition. We need to improve quickly to avoid a morale crushing defeat - not to mention that it would leave us 5 points behind after only two games.

This is not meant to sound wholly negative - some of the play last night was excellent. We can, and no doubt will, play better in the future. Let's hope it begins on Wednesday...

PS - Have been in Italia for a week or so, hence the lack of updates. Now I am back in Scozia, the updates should become regular again, starting with a report on Venezia's first game of C1 against Ivrea later today.