The countdown begins at Avellino, five days left until the debut in the second national phase of the playoffs. What’s at stake is Serie B, with many fierce teams intent on winning the fourth and final pass to access the cadet tournament. While waiting for the return matches of the first round, scheduled for Saturday and with the top seeds ahead of the others, the wolves started working again.
After the friendly win against Trastevere and the day’s break, the group met again and continued their preparations in view of their debut, scheduled for Tuesday 21st May. Doors closed at the Partenio-Lombardi stadium in today’s session under the orders of Mister Pazienza and his staff: tomorrow Avellino will return to the pitch at 10.30 am, while on Saturday an afternoon training session is scheduled (4.30 pm).
Only on Sunday morning, with the draw, will the green and whites know the opponent they will face in the playoffs: Patierno and his teammates will play the first leg away from home, while the return will be played at the “Partenio” on Saturday 25 May. The team will leave for the away match, complete the finishing touches and be ready for the match, almost a month after their last official appearance (last April 27th during the match against Crotone).
Five days before the match, it is difficult to hypothesize Varela’s return. “He is not yet in the same condition as his teammates,” said the San Severo trainer after the test against Trastevere. However, there should be no doubts about the use of Rocca and Cionek: “They are the only ones, besides Varela, who have had some ailments in recent weeks. Now they’re fine and ran a good pace in the race.”
In recent weeks Avellino has worked on two game systems. With the 3-5-2 Pazienza would have very few doubts: Ghidotti goes between the posts, Cancellotti and Frascatore are the two right-wingers, Rigione and Cionek compete for the other shirt. On the right Ricciardi is ahead of Llano, on the left Liotti overtakes captain Tito. Armellino takes the role of point guard, De Cristofaro and one of D’Ausilio and Rocca complete the department. In attack, Patierno is the starter, head to head between Sgarbi and Gori to form the advanced tandem.
In the 4-3-1-2 the back board would change: Ricciardi and Liotti would still be the wingers, while in the center of the defense there would be four players for two available shirts. In midfield there shouldn’t be too many unknowns, but in this case Palmiero could also carve out a chance from the start. In the attacking midfield Sgarbi was also tested behind Patierno and Gori in the last friendly match. “I don’t ask very great things from the attacking midfielder other than to work according to where the ball is and consequently the two strikers must move based on what the attacking midfielder decides,” Pazienza said in a press conference two days ago.
