Bologna V Torino Preview

After conceding a heartbreaking last minute equaliser against AC Milan last weekend, Torino will come up against a familiar face in Sunday's match at Bologna.

Rolando Bianchi scored 77 goals in 180 appearances during his five years at the club, but left in the summer after his contract expired to join the Rossoblu. The former Toro captain has yet to score for his new club, and Toro fans will be hoping that he doesn't open his account for Bologna on Sunday.

The Granata are expected to stick with the same side that came so close to beating Milan last weekend, as Guillermo Rodriguez has not yet recovered from injury so Cesare Bovo will continue to play in the middle of the back three.

Marcelo Larrondo will also miss out after being injured in the draw at Milan, so Toro's striking options look a little bit lightweight with only Alessio Cerci, Ciro Immobile and Riccardo Meggiorini to choose from.

Prediction
Bologna 1-1 Torino

Torino 2-2 AC Milan

Torino were seconds away from securing their first Serie A victory over Milan in over a decade but conceded a controversial last minute equaliser from the penalty spot.

As expected, Alessio Cerci returned to the starting eleven whilst Cesare Bovo replaced the injured Guillermo Rodriguez in defence. For AC Milan, Kaka started to behind a front two of Mario Balotelli and Robinho in his first appearance in Italian football for four years.

The Granata made the brighter start, with Giuseppe Vives and Alessio Cerci both going close from long range. Cristian Zapata went closest for Milan just before the break, but his header from a free kick went narrowly wide.

Two minutes after half time, the home side took a deserved lead when Cerci's pass found D'Ambrosio and the wing back cut inside on his favoured right foot to fire a shot past Christian Abbiati. And with twenty minutes remaining, an exquisite through ball from Ciro Immobile found the outstanding Cerci and the Italy international kept calm to double Torino's lead.

And when Daniele Padelli miraculously denied Mario Balotelli from close range, it looked as though Toro were on course for a memorable victory. But with three minutes remaining, Milan got a goal back in bizarre circumstances as Padelli's punch fell to Sulley Muntari and the Ghanaian's scuffed shot found the bottom corner. However, Toro felt that this goal should have been disallowed due to Balotelli being offside in the build up, despite not obviously interfering with play.

Then in injury time, substitute Giovanni Pasquale fouled Andrea Poli in the penalty area to give Milan the chance to rescue a point - and Mario Balotelli continued his excellent record from the spot to deny Toro a famous victory. However, Torino also had complaints regarding the equaliser as in the build up to the penalty incident, they were not allowed to substitute the injured Marcelo Larrondo despite the ball going out of play.

This will feel like a defeat for Torino, but it is important to remember how well they played for 88 minutes, and the fact that it took two controversial decisions to deny them a famous victory. The performance of Alessio Cerci was an obvious high point, but once again the midfield trio of Giuseppe Vives, Matteo Brighi and Omar El Kaddouri also impressed.

Forza Toro

Torino V AC Milan Preview

Torino will be looking to end their miserable run against AC Milan when they face the Rossoneri on Saturday evening at the Stadio Olimpico.

The Granata have not beaten Milan in over a decade, and Toro lost both games against last season including a 4-2 home defeat last December.

Guillermo Rodriguez has been struggling with injury, so Cesare Bovo could deputise - whilst Alessio Cerci should return to the starting eleven after only being on the bench for the defeat at Atalanta.

The returning Kaka is expected to start for AC Milan, whilst former Juventus striker Alessando Matri could also be included alongside Mario Balotelli.

Prediction
Torino 1-2 AC Milan

Atalanta 2-0 Torino

Torino fell to their first defeat of the season as they lost 2-0 at Atalanta on Sunday evening, despite the Granata hitting the woodwork on two occasions.

Toro made three changes to the side that beat Sassuolo last weekend, with Migjen Basha, Omar El Kaddouri and Marcelo Larrondo all coming into the eleven. The omission of Alessio Cerci from the starting line up was certainly a surprise, but the Italy international was apparently struggling with an injury.

The home side started brightly, as firstly Giacomo Bonaventura and then German Denis went close for Atalanta, with the latter forcing a good save from Daniele Padelli. At the other end, Omar El Kaddouri almost scored a memorable goal on the counter attack after running from his own half, but he was denied by Andrea Consigli.

From the resulting corner, Torino went even closer as Matteo Darmian stabbed the ball onto the crossbar. And it took a miraculous save from Consigli to deny Toro's other wing back, as Danilo D'Ambrosio almost headed Torino into the lead from close range.

At the start of the second half, an inch-perfect pass from D'Ambrosio put Larrondo through on goal, but the Argentine striker could only hit the side netting with his shot. Moments later, the former Siena man had another excellent chance to give Torino the lead from the edge of the area, but on this occasion he ballooned the ball over the bar.

With Toro missing so many clear cut chances, the inevitable happened after 57 minutes when Toro failed to deal with a free kick and the ball fell kindly to Guglielmo Stendardo who struck it past Padelli to give the home side the lead. However, there were question marks regarding whether the goal should have stood as fellow defender Mario Yepes was clearly standing in an offside position which left Padelli unsighted.

Giampiero Ventura acted immediately as he took captain Kamil Glik off and brought on Alessio Cerci as the team switched to a 4-3-3 formation. Moments after that switch, Toro came narrowly close to an equaliser as  Omar El Kaddouri struck an excellent free kick but it rebounded off the crossbar.

But Toro's inability to defend set pieces was their downfall once again, as Atalanta doubled their lead ten minutes from time when an unmarked Stefano Lucchini powered a header past Padelli.

This was a difficult loss for Toro to take considering they were the better team for much of the contest, but they learnt a valuable lesson regarding the importance of defending set pieces properly. However, there were a number of positives also - the performance of Omar El Kaddouri especially - and the fact that they were able to create so many chances, but unfortunately were unable to convert any of them.

Forza Torino

Atalanta v Torino Preview

Torino will make the short journey to Bergamo looking for back-to-back victories as they face Atalanta on Sunday evening.

After defeating Sassuolo on the opening day, enthusiasm amongst Granata supporters is high, and returning to the location of their most impressive victory in the last campaign - a 5-1 away win - could give them added hope for the season ahead.

New loan signing Giovanni Pasquale, a defender from Udinese, has been included in the squad although Matteo Brighi misses out and should be replaced in the Toro starting eleven by former Atalanta man Migjen Basha. Alexander Farnerud struggled in his league debut last weekend, and it would not be a surprise to see the former Swedish international replaced by Omar El Kaddouri.

The home side began the season with a disappointing 2-1 defeat against Cagliari, and will also be looking to gain revenge as Toro took six points from them last season. Talented striker German Denis will be leading the line for Atalanta, whilst Giacomo Bonaventura is also a player to look out for.

Match Prediction
Atalanta 1-1 Torino

Maratona & Elsewhere #13 : Toro v Sassuolo: “The one in which we’re very rude about Enzo Maresca’s mother”

Torino 2-0 Sassuolo - 25.08.13

....pation!

Last week against Pescara didn’t really feel like the real thing, to be honest. More a holiday atmosphere than anything else. The Piemontese equivalent of a “Kiss Me Quick” hat and a stick of rock wouldn’t have been out of place. Much catching up with friends not seen since May, comparing suntans (not me, obviously, being a Barbarian), it felt like an aperitivo, as if we were all just dropping in to say “ciao” en route to another engagement.

But this was the real thing.

In M&E#12 I touched upon the possibility of Enzo Maresca joining the club and the reaction said possibility provoked. Some behavioural psychologists speak of the concept of reinforcement, whereby certain behaviours can be strengthened or increased via reward or punishment. I vaguely recall studying this in Manchester in the late ‘80s in moments of relative sobriety.

We entered the stadium as normal, bought beers as normal. Then the singing started: 

La mamma di Maresca è una puttana! 

Bastardo non ti vogliamo! 

Enzo Maresca gobbo di merda! 

Maresca tu sei un figlio di puttana! 

I would like to think that the many thousand fully-qualified Granata behavioural psychologists present were merely indulging in some form or another of reinforcement therapy for the benefit of Cairo, Ventura and Petrachi, something along the lines of “don’t you fucking dare try anything like that again.”

[The aforementioned songs and their many variations feature regularly in the Maratona songbook, along with many other popular favourites. In the coming weeks and months I shall endeavour to devise a drinking game called “Maratona Binge-O!”, the purpose of which will be to consume a certain quantity of a particular beverage upon hearing a given song or chant from the Curva. As there are obvious dangers and practical difficulties inherent in attempting a drinking game inside the stadium, this will be a TV-based game for armchair Ultras everywhere, season ticket holders who are unable or unwilling to attend away games, and for anyone who for whatever reason needs a drink when watching Toro. I know how you feel.]

The recently-but-not-dearly departed Angelo Ogbonna also received a “gobbo di merda!” for good measure. It would have been rude to leave him out, after all, and - as my late grandmother used to say -honey catches more flies than vinegar (which puts honey in second place, behind bullshit). I wish him well and hope he enjoys his next few months on the bench at Venaria Town before going to Sampdoria on loan in January in order to get a game before the World Cup comes around.

And so to the announcement of the teams. No prizes for guessing whose names were greeted with the least enthusiasm: Vives and the Meggiorini.

The Ultras still seem to be in pre-season. Perhaps the guys who can find their own arse with both hands are still at the beach? Any way you slice it, the banners (which were made from somebody’s mother’s floral wallpaper and single-sided, so those standing behind couldn’t read them) and general orchestration left something to be desired. The rendition of “Forza! Vecchio! Cuore! Granata!” was the weakest I have heard since my debut against Modena in November 2010.

I will also retain the right to get a little bit pissed off whenever they become so self-absorbed that the game (and others’ enjoyment thereof) takes second place to their collective ego. The €230 I paid for my season ticket was to watch the team play, thankyouverymuchrantover.

Continuing in contrary mood, many people in the Maratona – those in my immediate vicinity and myself included - disagreed with Rob and Peter and with 52% of ToroNews voters in their selection of Vives as Man of the Match. In the Maratona we don’t have the benefit of commentary, action replays and multiple camera angles, but we do have the advantage of being there.

My received wisdom (Maratona level 2, section 213) was that Cerci had a good game and was M.o.M., despite playing out of position for much of the game as a second striker. No surprise that his goal – an almost carbon copy of the beauty he scored at Fiorentina last season – came from the right wing. Honourable mentions also for Matteo Brighi for his goal and all-round first half performance (I hope his injury - an adductor strain, I believe - is a temporary inconvenience), for Migjen Basha who came on in his stead second half, El Pelado Rodriguez and Padelli in goal (who made only nine tackles fewer than Vives, according to legaseriea.it!).

As an aside, four days later 67% of ToroNews readers who responded said they would replace Vives with Bellomo for the Atalanta game! Shall we add “fickle” to “superstitious”, and/or get bogged down with statistics instead? Nah. Let’s not.

I think Ciro Immobile can be happy enough with his performance, if not with the cretinous short corner routine on 80 minutes that led to him receiving a yellow card on the halfway line for what could be considered a professional foul. We had three guys waiting at the far post, for fuck’s sake. The exact same kind of moronic set-piece – I’m assuming we don’t practice set-pieces in training – that all too often last season led to the ball arriving in our penalty area for Gillet to deal with.

I also have to disagree with ToroNews regarding Orsato, the referee. He seemed keen to wave play on when there was no discernible advantage to be had, and there was one comedy moment where he ran 30 metres to bark at Ventura, having just given us a free kick. Ah well, it could have been worse, I suppose; we could have had Bergonzi (who refereed the most recent derby after his short break in Dubai with Beppe Marotta, and the pleasure of whose company we’ll have again in Bergamo next Sunday), or Rocchi, Tagliavento, Peruzzo, Banti or any of the other clowns. Orsato getting a favourable review for being merely average shows you the standard of officiating we have in Italy.

So, for Pescara 3-0 in 2012, read Sassuolo 2-0 in 2013. We saluted our first win and first Fisherman’s Friends of the season with “Tutta la notte, coca e mignotte!”(“All night, cocaine and whores!”) and invited the players to join us under the Curva, which they duly did – cf. the Pescara game.

And what of the new-fangled 3-5-2 formation? I’m not a fan, on the evidence of this match. Kamil Glik doesn’t look comfy on the right of a back three, Darmian and D’Ambrosio aren’t wingers, and Cerci doesn’t play with his back to goal. I’m hoping for a counter-attacking 4-4-2 and Farnerud playing left right out for the Atalanta game, which is yet another 2045 kick-off on a Sunday night. Don’t Lega Serie A realise that some people have to get up for work on a Monday morning?! It’s not exactly conducive to attracting away fans to add to the atmosphere and/or televisual spectacle, either.

FORZA! to our travelling tifosi.

Tune in next time for M&E#14: “Toro 0 - 2 Milan”

F.V.C.G.!

P.S.: Whisper it - fourth place in the classifica! Officially we’re 4th, because (get this) in the event of two or more teams having identical records the tie is broken according to last season’s final league position (shakes head). We’d be 4th alphabetically, too, BUT WE’RE FOUR PLACES ABOVE THE GOBBI.

P.P.S.: Final word on superstitions. Mine is wearing a silver earring in the shape of the Warner Brothers Tasmanian devil –yes, I know I should know better at my age, but I didn’t wear it against Pescara while I did against Sassuolo. And which game did we win? ;-)

Steve is a season ticket holder who moved to Torino in 2009 after meeting a Torinese lady called Raffaella on Facebook - you can follow Steve on Twitter here.

Maratona & Elsewhere #12: Toro v Pescara: “17 is unlucky for some.”

Torino 1-2 Pescara - 17.08.13

The number 17 is considered unlucky in Italy, and so playing against Pescara in the Coppa Italia (I refuse to use the name of the sponsor) on August 17th turned out to be for us. But not for them, curiously. Lady Luck is a capricious creature, isn’t she? Italians generally are a superstitious bunch, prone to using certain gestures to ward off the evil eye, knocking on iron (“tocca ferro”) for luck, not cutting their nails on a Thursday, practising Catholicism, etc…

My personal favourites relate to the selection of lottery numbers. There are many television charlatans in this country with premium-rate telephone lines who claim some kind of paranormal ability to predict numbers. There is an ancient Neapolitan system known as La Smorfia, in which the first letter of something you dreamed about corresponds to a lottery number. I have a book on this stuff which dates from 1996, in which a naked woman represents 21 and head lice represent 87, to give but two examples. I’m not sure what number equates to a naked woman with head lice; I’ll get back to you on that.

“But Steve,” I hear you say, “last night I had a dream about an octopus living inside an acoustic guitar!” That’s 67, my friends (I kid you not).

The book includes many photographs of famous people, accompanied by seemingly random digits. I include one below for your dining and dancing pleasure.

(Yes, that is James Hewitt.)

The relevance of all this? I repeat, the number 17 is considered unlucky in Italy. I am led to believe that Italian high-rise buildings often do not have a 17th floor – bear this in mind if you intend to visit Italy on your next bungee jumping holiday - and Alitalia don’t have a Row 17 on their seat plans. But why is this? Well, if you rearrange the Roman numerals XVII you get “VIXI”, which can be found on tombstones. This is Latin for “he lived” (i.e., “he’s dead now!”). Salvatore Masiello wears 17. Make of that what you will, but he’s certainly been no good luck charm for us thus far. I recently bought a lotto ticket and chose his shirt number and those of Vives and the Meggiorini. Won bugger
all. Q.E.D. 

*** 

But I digress. The match? Considering the fact that most of Italy is still on holiday during the third week in August, a crowd in the region of 10,000 for a cup game was quite impressive. Which is more than can be said for the game, more’s the pity. After about 3 minutes I took out my notebook and pen, ready to scribble some pithy aperçus, but before I knew it one of the Ultras (possibly drugged) conducting the singing had jumped up ten rows of seats and was in my right ear, berating me for not joining in! Trying to explain that I was writing for an English language blog about Toro was as much use as trying to teach a dog a card trick. Fortunately I am not an aggressive person by nature and I was too surprised to react to the invasion of my personal ear, to be honest. I do, however, have a contingency plan for any repeat performance :-)

Other than nursing my perceived grievance – there were many others not singing, and none of them were writing! – I have little to report other than that one of the thirty-or-so Pescara supporters lit and threw a flare at our brothers and sisters in the Curva Primavera. This unsurprisingly brought a reaction from the Maratona: a chant of “Uccideteli!” (“Kill them!”) and a not-so-friendly invitation to a rendezvous after the game. For their supporters’ behaviour, Pescara were quite rightly fined €7.000. Quite unbelievably, our club was fined the same amount for our brothers and sisters having the temerity to throw the damned thing back!

So, a defeat to a team from Serie B, one that we beat 3-0 in our opening game in Serie A last year. What to read into it? Well, we have nine new faces in the squad – eight if you don’t include Cesare Bovo, who was with us on loan in 2007 – a new Captain, and a new formation, so it will be interesting to see how and how soon we find the correct blend. Pescara themselves appeared to me to be fitter than us and seemed to know each other better. I must add, however, that I’m not 100% convinced we set out to win that game. The second half had the feel of a pre-season friendly, a training exercise, a let’s-concentrate-on-the-league, boys. 

The general mood of the Curva was less-than-positive in the immediate aftermath. Indeed, we sent the players away with a flea in their collective ear and a respectful suggestion that they show some balls in future. My ticket had a face value of twenty centesimi (about seventeen pence), though, so I suppose I can say it was value for money. (I have no idea why I was given a paper ticket, as my season ticket is in the form of a smartcard.)

I could rant and rave about the Coppa being seeded, but if we can’t beat Pescara in the third elimination round I’d be wasting my breath. They now play Spezia in the fourth round, which will be useful for both teams in terms of fitness and squad rotation, and the possibility of playing Milan at the San Siro will be something to look forward to for their supporters. I think it would have been of benefit to OUR players and OUR supporters, too!

Just to put the cherry on the turd weekend, we also had the inaugural Mamma Cairo trophy, a four-team tournament contested by our Primavera squad and those of Milan, Inter, and Venaria Town, celebrating the life of the late mother of our club president. Unfortunately, the team from Venaria just happened to win the thing. So an unpleasant weekend all round; a cup defeat to a team in a lower division, and our president’s mother’s trophy awarded to the gobbi. The latter embarrassment was 100% avoidable. I wouldn’t have invited them, personally. 

In the week separating this mess and the beginning of the new Serie A campaign there was much noise aboutnCairo-Ventura-Petrachi bringing Enzo Maresca to the club (though both Petrachi and Ventura have subsequently employed a sloping-shoulders policy and denied any responsibility). Maresca is probably best-known in Granata circles for scoring against us in the February, 2002 derby and mimicking Marco Ferrante’s “horns” goal celebration (see below). 

The idea of a piss-taking ex-gobbo joining Toro did not exactly go down well. Indeed, Piero Chiambretti, who is a famous TV and radio personality in Italy and a proud Toro tifoso, declared he would change his lifelong allegiance if the deal went through. His and other supporters’ protests led to the idea getting kicked into the long grass, if you’ll forgive the pun. But more of that next time. For now, I’ll leave you trembling with antici...

F.V.C.G.!

Steve is a season ticket holder who moved to Torino in 2009 after meeting a Torinese lady called Raffaella on Facebook - you can follow Steve on Twitter here.