Perugia goes through, not without some thrills, against a Rimini team forced to try to win. The first half was consumed with prolonged possession of the game by Rimini and the Griffins unable to build even just on the restart. In 3/4/1/2, which became a 4/3/2/1 based on the movements of Mezzoni and Lisi on the outside, Perugia’s midfield struggled quite a bit because Rimini’s coach, Troise, studied the opponent well and created difficulties Perugia with the three attacking midfielders behind the striker Morra. The Umbrian defense, often stressed in terms of speed, responded with physicality and withstood the attack well throughout the match. But then, from midfield up, the usual difficulties emerged in building, finding spaces, looking for the shot. Too little, frankly, in the prospect of having to play on two legs from now on and with the disadvantage of having to score more points or at least more goals than the opponent to move forward in the playoff marathon. In the second half, after an initial push from Rimini which made Formisano on the bench very nervous, with the substitutions the coach rebalanced the team a bit. In the continuous change, due to the substitutions, of the tactical structures of the two teams, Perugia continued to suffer, but a few more situations were created due to Sylla’s outbursts and Seghetti’s depth. However, the ability to choose the best solution to reach an effective conclusion has always been lacking. Rimini continued to grind out the game, but the Perugian defenders were never surprised. The final 0-0, sweaty and substantially fair, allows the Grifo to continue the journey. As mentioned, a change of perspective will be needed in the approach to the next matches. We will have to be more daring, Formisano will have to change the score. It will take personality and quality, which have almost always been lacking until now. But who knows, the play offs sometimes disprove the predictions.
Daniele Orlandi – Italian Press Agency
