05/06/2024 11.49am
Courage is needed before controversy. After the clear 3-0 defeat suffered by Genoa in Genoa and the 1-1 home draw against Lecce, the Cagliari by Claudio Ranieri rediscovered the sense of fear by looking at the rankings. The results are more than positive against Atalanta, Inter And Juventus (5 points) they had deluded themselves into less suffering in salvation key and instead for the rossoblù the last few days will be anything but a walk of health in the fight to stay in Serie A.
Humoral Reversal
The draw immediately came back from the Salento team Luca Gotti it swept away like a mistral wind the enthusiasm of the last few weeks. One of those libeccias, as Ranieri defined them from day one, to which we will have to react with an impetus that has not always been in the DNA of the rossoblù team this season. Between discontent over the refereeing choices, between veiled (not too much) accusations of excessive defensiveness towards the Roman coach and above all in the great fear at the end for the two posts hit by the Salento team, the match against Lecce put Cagliari back in front of the harsh truth: three weekends of water and hard bread are needed to remain in Serie A. This should not be surprising, Ranieri himself had been an easy prophet in summer: “If we save ourselves, we will only do it in the last second of the last match, exactly how we went up in Bari.”. However, it is unfortunate that in the best moment of their season after having made a run against the big teams in the championship, Cagliari has crashed especially in terms of character in two races that are more within reach on paper. Against Genoa the rossoblù refused to play to try to go all-in at home against Lecce, only to then have an impact in a match strongly influenced by refereeing decisions and the naivety of individuals after a good approach.
Back to the past
In fact it is the risk of betting everything on a single winning horse. Mentality that this season, but also in the past, did not bring good results to the team Cagliari. The Sardinians did well when put on the ropes, when they had to fight to avoid going down like against Naples, Atalanta, Inter And Juventus. On the contrary, performances and results did not arrive when the justifications they were the strength of the opponent (the entire first part of the season) or betting everything on another type of match. And it’s strange that a losing mentality has come back into fashion at the most delicate moment. This too is the symbol of an education that is not yet mature enough to have its own identity that is not the daughter of moody flurries given by the various results. Their own and that of others, given the effect that Sassuolo’s victory had in the square and the wait that remains for the result of the match between Udinese and Napoli.
And now?
The Cagliari a large portion of Serie A will be played away, first in Milan against Milan and then in Reggio Emilia against Sassuolo. Not exactly the best for a team that is third to last in terms of performance far from their stadium. Ranieri’s boys scored just 8 points away from home this season, with only Frosinone and Salernitana doing worse (7). With the hope that in case of any missteps, the last match at home against the team will be enough Florentine. Even if making calculations now and deciding to have the purple parachute at Unipol Domus would be like repeating the fatal night of Penzo against the Venice from two seasons ago. Cagliari must quickly forget the last two weeks, quickly forget the controversies on other people’s mistakes and put aside the retro-thought (now, apparently, inherent in the walls and corridors of Asseminello) that there is always a game still to be played to fix things. True, Ranieri has demonstrated that at the moment of tossing the coin to go in or out he always knows before the others whether it will come out heads or tails. But maybe the mentality of “let’s hope I manage” it could be permanently put in the attic by trying to grow from a character point of viewwith a little more courage that was missing from a team that could have already been safe looking at certain results and the strength of other clubs now already in the pipeline (again to quote Ranieri’s typical phrases).
Roberto Pinna
