A “Great” Perugia loses to Carrara and “conquers” fourth place in the standings
by Gianluca Drusian
In the cold, that is, not in the immediate aftermath of the defeat but after a few hours have passed since the end of the match, talking about the match that saw Perugia as protagonist in Carrara becomes something contrasting with what we heard comments after the match and what we saw on the pitch.
The confusion on the idea and on the judgment that the observer of the challenge has built within his own mind regarding the strength shown by the group, the presumed goodness of the performance and the skill of everyone in relation to the tactical interpretation of the match (removed the only final error in the 90th minute which cost the opponents the goal) clashes with what was declared by the coach Formisano and by some journalists and television commentators.
In many quarters, in fact, the most used word was “Great Perugia”, a team that played an excellent first half without allowing the feared Carrarese to play and that in the second half, however, knew how to counteract the opponents’ attacks well and suffered the disadvantage only at the end of the match when it seemed that both teams had settled for a draw.
The only point underlined by everyone was the absolute lack of offensive danger.
Well, if all this can ensure that the final judgment on Formisano’s eleven can be positive, it is a questionable hypothesis to say the least and which cannot be “branded” as defeatist rather extremely realist.
Perugia, beyond any other statistics or comparison of numbers, with the defeat of Carrara definitively abandons (even if not arithmetically) the chase for third place after having lost the dream of direct promotion to Serie B and after having stopped hoping also in second position. The only, meager satisfaction that the field decreed was the sole consolidation of fourth place. Happy like this, everyone happy.
Any other considerations? Was this the goal at the start of the championship? Was this the club’s intention in wanting to replace coach Baldini with the young Formisano? Was this the will of the group of players who, at the end of the match, with those who were interviewed (the only returning Bartolomei, among others), commented (indeed he) commented with great satisfaction on the performance of their team?
Even the news denies that castle of evidence provided by the protagonists. Beyond the tactical skirmishes and the equally tactical measures mixed and changed during the match by the two coaches (the famous 3-4-1-2- or 3-5-2 to which the coaches turned to deploy the players on the pitch own teams), from the management of the ball (which was only balanced during the two halves) and from the volume of play used, a series of scoring opportunities resulted which speak for themselves and clearly contradict that phrase of “undeserved defeat” used by many.
At 10′ of the game Finotto, the author of the decisive goal, on a long ball to go over the defense (distracted and only 10′ of the game had passed!) reaches almost in front of Adamonis and instead of shooting he decides to pass to the center of the area which sees a red and white defender saving an almost certain goal.
In the 14th minute it was the Grifoni who created an opportunity, the only one of the first half (what many judged to be an excellent first half of the game for Perugia) with Paz who was unable to close a cross from Cancellieri into the net.
In the 17th minute it was Capello della Carrarese who shot high from inside the penalty area.
In the 20th minute it was Panico who challenged Adamonis with a shot from the edge of the area and after a weak shot from Iannoni which was easily saved centrally by Bleve in the 25th minute it was Coppolaro who in the 41st minute frightened Perugia with a shot which Adamonis had to dive into own right to deflect the ball to the outside.
In the 43rd minute, Cancellieri, on a free kick, kicked weakly towards goal while Kouan was subsequently blocked in the area from an interesting position.
In the 46th minute Adamonis again managed to block a shot from close range by Ciccone.
In the second half, in the 47th minute Carrarese almost took the lead with Zanon finding a miraculous Adamonis and Finotto, in the rebound, was unable to close the opportunity created.
In the 54th minute Matos would have had a good ball to sink a great shot towards the yellow and blue goal but incredibly, from outside the area, his shot was kicked with the usual little force and halfway between the plate and the inside foot, not with the neck full.
First Capello in the 55th minute and Finotto again in the 57th minute attempted the shot which however ended up far from the red and white posts.
In the 62nd minute Cicconi managed to challenge Adamonis again from the edge while Formisano began a whirlwind of substitutions which did not produce the drive and freshness that was probably desired.
And, after an interlocutory phase of the second half of the game played mainly inside the red and white half of the field, after a nice shot from Imperiale in the 41st minute that came out wide, in the 90th minute Finotto’s decisive goal arrives.
PROMOTED: Adamonis
FAILED: Formisano, Lewis, Torrasi, Kouan, Matos above all.
