Monday 4 March 2013

Torino 0-0 Palermo

Torino's lack of firepower once again proved to be their downfall as they could only manage a goalless draw (their sixth of the season) against bottom of the table Palermo.

As expected, Guillermo Rodriguez came into the team in order to replace the suspended Angelo Ogbonna, whilst Matteo Brighi also came into the midfield to replace Alen Stevanovic.

football formations
Toro had an excellent lead to open the scoring in the opening stages, but after good interplay between Matteo Brighi and Alessio Cerci, the ball fell to Giuseppe Vives on the left wing - but the former Lecce man blazed his shot over the bar.

The Granata continued to look the more likely team to score, and were extremely unlucky when Rolando Bianchi's vicious volley rebounded off the post. Whilst Palermo were only creating half chances, they were were looking like a better side than their league position suggested. 

The Rosanero's Slovenian midfielder Josip Ilicic seemed to be responding to having the added responsibility of the captain's armband, but his left footed shot went well wide of the target. Substitute Fabrizio Miccoli sparked some more energy into the away team, and the former Fiorentina striker almost troubled Jean-Francois Gillet with an audacious chip, but it went over the bar. 

With ten minutes remaining, both teams seemed to think that the three points were there for the taking, and Torino substitute Danilo D'Ambrosio came agonisingly close to giving the Granata the lead. Alessio Cerci's corner was flicked on at the near post by Riccardo Meggiorini, but somehow D'Ambrosio failed to make contact with the ball from only two yards out.

And Torino had an even better chance moments later when a poor clearance by the Palermo defence gave Riccardo Meggiorini an outstanding opportunity, but his tame shot meant that former Granata keeper Stefano Sorrentino was able to deny him. 

Whilst a draw was probably a fair result, and it actually increased the gap between Torino and the bottom three to eleven points, Toro will look on this match as a missed opportunity in their quest to finish in the top half.

Forza Torino

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