He toured Italy far and wide, bringing his solid and concrete – but never banal – football from the far North to the deep South.
Fresh from a surprising and satisfying experience among the amateurs of Bari Sardo, in Sardinia, which allowed him to experience a new and unprecedented professional dimension, Alberto Cavasin takes stock of the intense battle for survival that this year in Serie A has brought to the relegation of Salernitana, Sassuolo and Frosinone.
Alberto, did the court verdicts in the relegation zone surprise you? Or do you consider them completely legitimate, based on what has been seen weekly on the pitch?
“Let’s start from Salernitana, which was relegated in the middle of the championship due to a series of errors and negative economic conditions. In fact, she left the scene almost immediately. To avoid the other two places that led straight to B there was a fight almost until the last day. Sassuolo represented the biggest negative surprise, in the sense that at the start of the tournament no one could have thought that they would be relegated. We were all a little fond of this team, but too many things didn’t go right. Berardi’s long-term hospitalization is not enough to explain the collapse, because you don’t end up in Serie B just because of the absence of a player, no matter how decisive. Let’s say that this year the donut, near Sassuolo, didn’t turn out well.
I was very sorry for the Frosinone debacle. It cannot be said that someone else deserved to go down in place of the Ciociari, because all the teams that ultimately retained the category legitimately survived, but Di Francesco’s team had played a good championship. I’m going against the grain: even in the second half he didn’t do badly, on the contrary. He played it to the fullest until the end, including the last match against Udinese which marked his return to the second division.
With two months to go, Empoli seemed destined to say goodbye to the top flight, due to their ranking situation and the difficulty in winning matches. But then, despite a certain final suffering, once again the Nicola treatment paid off. From a technical point of view, from my point of view, Cagliari could also have been relegated. But, and the president, the club and the players don’t hold it against me, the miracle was achieved by Claudio Ranieri, who put a lot of himself into achieving salvation.”
Do you mean to say that the rossoblù staff, from a qualitative point of view, was not up to the standard of Serie A and that the difference was made by the coach’s experience?
“Let’s say that Cagliari’s staff – which ultimately survived by just one point – was equivalent to that of Empoli, Lecce or Verona. Udinese and Sassuolo themselves, in my opinion, on paper had something more than the Sardinians. In short, the destiny of the rossoblù – as Ranieri himself has always repeated – was to snatch their stay in Serie A on the last day. And the objective was also achieved thanks to the alchemy that was created within the group and then between the team and the whole environment: in Sardinia even the home stadium, in home matches, brings with it some precious more points.”
Now the fans would like a Cagliari that is a little more competitive, capable of providing rewards in Serie A too. Where does the current squad need to be improved to allow the rossoblù to make a small leap in quality?
“These are delicate assessments and considerations, which must be made by insiders within the company. Also because Cagliari cannot afford – if they need a quality midfielder for example – to go and get a very high level player. He must purchase items in line with his possibilities and his current size. To improve this year’s performance, the players will have to take a further step, trying to bring out not one hundred, but one hundred and ten percent of their potential. Without forgetting the absolutely most important aspect for teams like the island team: compactness, accompanied by the vis pugnandi. Furthermore, a coach is arriving who makes his players play in a very aggressive, tenacious, almost ferocious manner both at home and away. I respect Nicola a lot, and I think he is very suitable for the Cagliari square.”
Alberto, you recently had an experience – unusual for a coach of your caliber – in Sardinia, among the amateurs of Bari Sardo. How did the island welcome you and how did you experience the months at the helm of the white-blue team?
“Meanwhile, Sardinia welcomed and integrated me right away; beyond the extraordinary beauties of the island, I found myself very well in terms of empathy and human warmth. As far as the football aspect is concerned, I would say it was a one hundred percent success. We won practically always, but above all in winning we expressed organized and pleasant football also from an aesthetic point of view. Furthermore, we were amateurs so to speak: we did five training sessions a week – instead of the three or four of the other teams – so on Sundays we definitely had an edge.”
