This game gave further evidence to my belief that Serie A still has a firm divide between the big and smaller teams. The match seemed to follow this season’s script, as the result seemed somewhat inevitable. La Robur came out firing as they have done all season, creating early chances that, if taken, could’ve not only rewritten the script, but torn it up and burnt it! However, the brilliance of nazionale ‘keeper Amelia made sure that there was to be no such alteration as he was called in several times early on to make important saves and very bravely smother a promising chance for Kharjah. Right on cue, Palermo welcomed the space that Siena seem to be freely handing out this season, and came into the game with former Juve and Torino man Balzaretti causing a constant nuisance down the left flank.. By this point the tedious sense of inevitability began to creep in and, as has so often happened this campionato, the home side took the lead helped in part by a large slice of luck. Cassani’s attempted cross from the right sliced off his boot and gently floated over the embarrassed Gianluca Curci in the Siena goal who had been anticipating the cross. Half an hour gone and Cassani was celebrating his first goal of the season. Despite the strong sense of déjà vu, the one thing that will always keep me glued to a Siena game is there refusal to give in.. if only the character they show on the road could be matched by their finishing! However, what you have to be willing to give up away, from home is the safety in knowing that your normally impenetrable backline will get peppered with chances, and that was once again the case as Palermo doubled there lead as a slip from the substitute Moti putting Succi and Simplicio through for a two-on-one with Curci, with Simplicio calmly chesting home the dinked cross to seal the win for the home side.

Going into the game Siena had the chance to leapfrog their more illustrious opponents and into a very respectable 11th place, flirting with the top half. However, what transpired was a classic case of there still being a sizeable divide between the league’s big teams and the smaller ones. Sure, week-in-week-out its a league where any team can upset a big gun, but ultimately come the end of the season, it’ll be the same teams scrapping out the bottom as it will be for the Scudetto. Good scouts and excellent work in the loan market can assemble you a good team, but under the surface it is ultimately money that will by you strength in depth that can cause that new impetus coming off the bench or generate that extra bit of luck.

There was an interesting statistic that came out this weekend, this weekend’s Serie A games saw an incredible 41 goals scored, with only Siena, Lecce, Catania and Reggina not to score..

Roll on Inter this weekend!

Palermo: Amelia; Cassani, Bovo, Carrozzieri, Balzaretti, Nocerino, Liverani, Bresciano (Tedesco 90); Simplicio (Kjaer 87); Cavani, Succi (Lanzafame 79)

Siena: Curci; Zuniga, Rossettini (Moti 28), Portanova, Del Grosso; Vergassola, Coppola, Galloppa (Calaio’ 81); Kharja; Ghezzal, Maccarone (Frick 53)

Goals: Cassani 30 (P), Simplicio 54 (P)

All season I have been heaping praise on what has been a solid start to the campaign, and it is not hard to see from their league position that the Robur are well positioned to survive and live to fight another year in Serie A. BUT what has been very clear in their eight away trips this season and was abundantly apparent at Napoli is that Giampaolo’s Siena are an attractive team to watch. ‘Surely, that’s a good thing’ I can hear you saying, but as most fans of the Italian game will tell you, playing well means nothing if you walk away with nothing, and that is exactly the way i bianconeri’s fortunes have fared on the road this season.

At first I was impressed with Giampaolo, he came in and with a decent, but by no means great, squad of defenders and has forged an excellent defensive base for the team, who sit proudly with the fourth best defensive record in the league. Up front Siena have played excellent free flowing attacking football, cemented by a workhorse midfield who create plenty of width and space for the gifted set of strikers, so how is it that week-in-week-out the end product is so toothless in front of goal. At first I was willing to overlook the lack of goals and revel in the joy of a young hungry team that play with no fear and ooze confidence at home. The goals will come when once one of the strikers gets the rub of the green and then it will snowball.. That’s what i kept telling myself. The Rosaneri game represents the 16th round of the championship and Siena, despite sitting comfortably mid-table, have only scored more goals that table-propping Chievo.

I may be a bit premature in my panic but I am currently of the mindset that we need to starting digging our nails in over this period and start grinding out points; sacrifice playing pretty; stop letting the opposition have time on the ball; what really matters is that with such a tough winter schedual, we are at risk of undoing all the hard work put in so far.

Palermo have been famously inconsistent in recent years, and this year is certainly no different. A big club with excellent support, the Renzo Barbera is never an easy place to go to, with i rosaneri being so unpredictable an important away result here is not impossible for the Tuscans.

Palermo (probable): Amelia; Cassani, Carrozzieri, Bovo, Balzaretti; Nocerino, Liverani, Bresciano; Simplicio; Cavani, Succi. Form: L L D W L

Siena (probable): Curci; Zuniga, Rossettini, Portanova, Del Grosso; Vergassola, Coppola, Galloppa; Kharja; Ghezzal, Maccarone Form: L D W W L

Prediction: 1-1

The game was a first class demonstration of Siena’s home form this season. Going into the match la robur had conceeded just two goals in the previous six games at the Artemio Franchi, and with Torino to have not won on their travels for 8 months anything other than a win here would be a shock to the bianconeri.

Marco Giampaolo’s home side took shape with this season’s impressive trident of Kharja, Ghezzal and the industrious Massimo Maccarone, who is looking to finally make an impact on the scoring charts after netting only his first goal of the season against Chievo last week. Central defender Rossettini was restored to the squad as the rest of it took its predicitable shape of 4-3-3.

For the Toro, the selection headache was upfront. Rolando Bianchi is desperate to impress and wishes to show that he can reach the heights of his pre-Manchester City nightmare, he was selected to accompany Stellone upfront. Torino were buzzing after the last couple of results but for a club with such history comes added pressure, and this pressure would really become apparent if Giani Di Biasi’s team could not end their dreadful away form in Tuscany.

The first half somewhat resembled a broken traffic light; Toro facing the onslaught of an in form Siena attack. The opening quarter of an hour saw Matteo Sereni called into action twice, first a routine save from Ghezzal and then tipping a dangerous header from Galloppa over the bar. Maccarone was then able to force a good parry from the Toro ‘keeper but on 18 minutes Sereni was guilty of not closing down the striker as he capitalized on some comical defending before poking the ball past the stationary custodian.

Toro’s chances were few and far between in the first half and they were fortunate not to hand Siena further advantage as Francesco Pratali very nearly deflected a dangerous Ghezzal cross into his own net, only for the cross bar to come to his rescue.

Di Biasi attempted to shake things up at half time bringing on veteran Amoruso for the inaffective Bianchi, but a further flurry of chances would be elusive as Gianluca Curci had one of his quieter afternoons between the sticks. Diana came closest but failed to force Curci into a save when he wasted a great chance by volleying wide. Rosina showed that he is still a player with some talent but is clearly short of match fitness as he came close on two opportunities but again failed to trouble Curci’s goal. Another sign of Giampaolo’s intentions this season was the attacking change of the goal scorer Maccarone for Calaio’, and it was the sub who came the closest in the second half to sealing the game with a great speculative effort that needed a good save from Sereni.

All in all it was a dominant home performance from a Siena side that are playing with the knowledge that they are as good as any team that come to the Franchi.

Siena: Curci; Zuniga, Rossettini, Portanova, Del Grosso; Coppola, Vergassola, Galloppa; Kharja; Ghezzal, Maccarone (Calaio’ 68)

Torino: Sereni; Diana, Natali, Pratali (Di Loreto 46), Rubin; Colombo, Dzemaili, Barone, Rosina; Bianchi (Amoruso 46), Stellone (Abbruscato 67)

Ref: Morganti

Goal: Maccarone al 19′ p.t.

Forza la Robur!

Siena, still unbeaten at home, host a seemingly revitalized Toro who somehow scrapped to an impressive draw with top-of-the-table Milan. A match of minor rivalry could hardly come at a better time for Siena as last week they claimed their first away win at bottom side Chievo, the pressure is off for them in this game. The bianconeri players may not be losing sleep ahead of a side that are yet to win away this season, however, three points at the fortress Artemio Franchi could do wonders to extend the gap between themselves and the other clubs pipped for a relegation scrap.

Siena should look to welcome back Luca Rossettini to bolster their watertight backline at home, but workman Paul Codrea is still absent. Giampaolo has to decide between strikers Calaio’ and Ghezzal to partner the sure starting Maccarone, after his first goal of the season seven days ago, and the impressive Kharja. However, it may very well be the former Granata striker Calaio’ who gets the nod.

Torino will cause problems especially with Alessandro Rosina back in the squad, as his craftmanship can be the key to unlocking any defence in the league when he is on form. The only worry is that his lack of match fitness may play against him. Toro should also look to club top scorer and Manchester City reject Bianchi to get behind the Siena defence, but his selection in the starting 11 is not a lock.

Prediction: Home win (1-0)

Since my last update the ever present Robur have been gaining more than useful points with not only a well fought 1-1 draw at home to Bologna to keep the record intact, but more importantly i toscani finally gained the slice of luck that has been haunting them away from home with their first maximum points outing coming in the turning over of Chievo 2-0 in Verona.

Siena now sit comfortably 12th in the table, with an early season that they can be proud of. Marco Giampaolo has guided his Robur to five points clear of the drop zone, and on the way has claimed the scalps of Roma and Fiorentina (scum), while the Artemio Franchi has become a fortress.. We are playing some of the most exciting football that I ever remember Siena playing, but all the good work could come undone in the next few weeks as i bianconeri face a daughting lead in to the winter break.

Torino (H) 30/11
Napoli (A) 7/12
Palermo (A) 14/12
Inter (H) 21/12
—————-

I am however confident that on current form there is at least 5 points available in the next month… lets just hope that we can carry on our curse over Inter, if those are the only points we take then i will be delighted!

out.
out.

“Siena played better than we did in the first half and I fully admit they did not deserve to lose.”

I feel it’s better to hear/read it from the horse’s mouth because otherwise it will just sounds like me moaning about our cursed luck again!

Siena arrived at the Olimpico riding a wave of confidence and, for perhaps the first time this season, being spoilt with a full squad list to choose from. Lazio were rising from a early slump and where riding high again after two consecutive victories.

It was the visitors who started the strongest as Giampaolo’s men seem to have taken his old colleague’s, Delio Rossi, team off guard from the get go. La Robur lined up with Maccarone along side the recently impressive Ghezzal, with Kharja playing in the hole behind them providing the creativity, and it was Ghezzal who was impressive early on with first flashing a shot across the face of goal and then moments after Lazio ‘keeper Carrizo produced a top-draw save to keep out an excellent control and volley from the French-Algerian. Moments later Maccarone fluffed an excellent chance to take the lead as somehow he failed to convert an open header from only a few yards out! Despite the flurry of near misses from i bianconeri, at half time Giampaolo cannot have claimed to have been anything but delighted with the performance. However as is so often the case in football to take home the spoils you need to bury your chances, even if it is just the one solitary chance. It is undeniable that the game was turned on its head with the introduction of Rocchi for the forgettable Meghi. It proved to be a masterstroke for Rossi’s team as Rocchi’s desire to re-establish himself coming back from injury provided an injection of urgency into the Lazio team. However it was left to a wonderful free-kick from Zarate to break the deadlock (somewhat undeservedly) just before the hour. It was Zarate’s first goal in five games after his scintillating start to the season and it was that man again who caused problems for the now deflated Robur defence as he was to set up both of Rocchi’s late goals to put a flattering on the score line.

Now that we have that out the way i feel the best way to address this result is by considering the way that la robur played. We are in the midst of a terrible period of away form, therefore the first half against high flying Lazio was as impressive a performance as I’ve seen from us all season. I bianconeri dominated the first half and looked a side competent to dream of a European place! Maccarone again was full of running, but this season he has been guilty of missing a hatful of chances and really should have done better in this game. I am very happy with the midfield trio of Vergassola, Codrea and Gallopa. The two experienced battlers in the midfield break the game up well and play with bags of energy that allows Galloppa time to use his pace to bring the ball forward and pick out the running from the front three. As I have mentioned before I am growing more fond of Marco Giampaolo by the week and I think he has really fallen on his feet with this team that can boast of such an industrious midfield and a great attacking quartet (including Frick). It is obvious that with some swifter finishing things could have been a lot different yesterday and Siena would have not only been celebrating a famous victory but their first away victory in 13 away matches.

Lazio (4-3-2-1): Carrizo, Lichtsteiner, Siviglia, Rozehnal, Kolarov; Dabo 26’st Brocchi), Ledesma, Meghni (1’st Rocchi); Foggia (37’st De Silvestri), Mauri; Zàrate.
Subs: Muslera, Diakitè, Radu, S.Inzaghi.
Coach: D. Rossi.

Siena (4-3-1-2): Curci, Zuniga, Portanova, Rossettini, Del Grosso; Vergassola, Codrea (39’st Calaiò), Galloppa (18’st’ Jarolim); Kharja (18’st’ Frick); Maccarone, Ghezzal.
Subs: Manitta, Moti, Rossi
Coach: Giampaolo

Ref: Brighi

Goals: Zàrate 57′, Rocchi 85′ and 90′

Attendance: 40.000 circa

But on a serious note, this is where i need to put my aspirations in check. Lazio’s roaring start to the season hit a wobble but after a late victory against Catania last week things seems to be on the up for them again. They will be licking their lips with the prospect of La Robur visiting the Olimpico this weekend, as i bianconeri boast one of the worst away records in the league, despite their impressive home form and their three massive points against the viola a weekend ago.

The home side are likely to start with Pasquale Foggia supporting Mauro Zarate and Tommaso Rocchi up front, as Pandev is suspended, however they are expecting Matuzalem and Manfredini to recover intime for the match. This looks a frightening prospect but we are lucky to welcome back central rock Daniele Portanova who after missing the derby will add further options to the backline. Giampaolo is likely to select Abdel Ghezzal (he better do!) to support former Massimo Maccarone. Ghezzal has seriously impressed since joining, and this was no more evident by being handed his first start against the scum and, for me, his performance there deserves another.

Although I am proud of the way the team has played this season, the onus is to pick up on the road. The Olimpico is not the easiest place to do that but I don’t think that there is a team in the division that Siena cannot beat… however, I’m going to have to side with a hard fought 2-1 win for Lazio.

You may have noticed that I stressed the term ‘results like this’ rather than ‘games like this’, that is simply because the game was dire but the result has made our season so far and has made the last few week’s results a lot easier to swallow.

There is a tradition amongst the tifosi della Robur that on derby day everyone goes out for lunch and feasts on la Bistecca alla Fiorentina, to ensure that we will ‘eat them alive’ should it come down to it… The pride and passion of the Tuscan derby is different to the city one of Lazio-Roma, Milan-Inter etc. what is at stake here is a history of constant war between the cities dating back throughout history, it transcends football and fits perfectly into the psyche of i Sienese, who by all accounts are a withdraw type of Italian: ‘Siena first, Italy second’ is what I learnt there, and with that the satisfaction of winning the battle against the old enemy is immeasurable.

Fiorentina made the short trip across Tuscany to one of their least favourite place to travel (as recent seasons have indicated).. A win in this most heated of rivalries is like gold dust between the squads and it is rare that the away end at the Artemio Franchi is brim full but with the hosting of the Merda the organisers always manage to sneak an extra 3,000-odd over the capacity.

Both teams have been handed raw deals in recent weeks, as I have documented Siena have felt hard done by following a couplet of soft penalty decisions going against them, whilst “Gila-gate” has left Fiorentina fuming as his imposed two match ban for a handball left him unavailable for selection.

The first half saw a very cagey 45minutes with returning Gianluca Curci called on a couple of times to clean up bits-and-pieces of viola attack, the highlight of a poor half of football saw the fit again Adrian Mutu finding the back of the net but his header was correctly judged to have been offside. The second half however was a completely different story. Giampaolo called upon Frick to replace the ineffective Calaio’ and suddenly Siena looked a lot more of a threat. The pace of Frick was the shot in the arm needed and seemed to complement the surging runs of Kharjah and the endless energy of ‘Big Mac’ Maccarone. La Robur began to look a more balanced but were once again indebted to Curci with a splendid double save from Pazzini and Mutu, respectively. Frick then had two excellent efforts to give the home side the lead but minutes after his first attempt was well saved by Frey, Maccarone teed up the ball on a plate only for Frick to smash it against the post with the goal at his mercy. No matter, as minutes later from a Galloppa corner man-of-the-match Kharja headed home the only goal of the game leaving Frey stranded. The final quater of an hour saw Fiorentina threaten only once with a Jovetic shot again saved by Curci. As the whistle blew the Robur fans erupted in a celebration that lasted into the night as they repeated the feat of 6 months ago, kept the home record alive and send the arch enemy packing with another game without scoring.. a Sunday afternoon doesn’t get much sweeter than that!

For a team like my beloved Siena there are a few things that make really do make or break a season. We shall not kid ourselves, Siena will never win Serie A, thats right you’ve heard it here first. I humbly believe that simply being in Serie A is reward enough for the people and fans of Siena. They are blessed with what is arguably the most beautiful city in one of the most cultural; most visited and most loved countries in the world. A scaffolding structured stadium that holds 15,000 capacity (18,000 come derby day!) can never claim to hold favour to the coveted Scudetto… In fact, a couple of seasons ago I had a detailed discussions over a post-match coffee with a good friend of mine and we discussed the fact that if Siena were to reach a birth in European competition the likelihood of our games played at the Monte di Paschi Arena would be small, with a likely transfer to the ground of the Scum 45minutes away in Firenze. It is reasons such as these which will thwart a Siena title charge, bigger teams will always have better players, higher wages, more revenue etc. Even teams such as Napoli and Udinese may struggle to wrestle away the Scudetto from the usual hawks, and i wish them the best of luck, but with La Robur our feet are set firmly on the ground: fight off relegation, find good young players or ageing greats on the cheap, take on loan future talent from the big sides and beat Fiorentina, these are the priorities and not necessarily in that order! Therefore at this point in time all the animosity I perviously had about bad decisions costing us points and terrible away form seem to have vanished in a euphoria after only 90 minutes of football that only a derby day victory can bring you. The footballing gods may have finally come around to realizing that Siena are no longer the punching boys of the division, but without them trying to show favouritism it is becoming apparent that Siena are now the God’s favourite team in Tuscany.

Siena: Curci; Zuniga, Rossettini, Portanova (Moti 85), Del Grosso, Vergassola, Codrea, Galloppa, Kharja, Calaiò (Frick 46), Maccarone (Ghezzal 89)

Fiorentina: Frey; Comotto (Zauri 15), Gamberini, Kroldrup, Pasqual, Donadel, Melo, Almiron (Kuzmanovic 75), Santana, Pazzini, Mutu (Jovetic 67)

Goal: Kharja 76 (S)

Ref: Farina

The trip to the San Siro is always a big game regardless of the club, and this holds true for Siena. After 10 days that has seen La Robur playing good open attacking football, but only taking home a solitary point. Now as a fan there is nothing that you wish to see more than your team to be playing attractive football which doesn’t consist of bulking up the backline and sitting on your own goal line waiting for a counter attack that may never come: and Siena are that team. It rings true since the years of Berreta’s reign that we are an attacking club and teams have to be on the top of their game to take away anything from la Robur. Well, perhaps there is one thing that fans would wish to see more, and that is winning consistently, even if it means that the club has to sacrifice playing attractively.
Milan had a selection headache on the cards as they added Ronaldinho and Mathieu Flamini to their injury list which already included Andrea Pirlo, Philippe Senderos, Alessandro Nesta and Kakha Kaladze. But Siena too was feeling the strain as the impressive Gianluca Curci was suspended and Massimo Maccarone was rested.

The reshuffling of Ancelotti’s squad led with Pato and Inzaghi starting upfront for the first time this season, and defiantly starting the brighter of the two teams Milan were made aware of Siena’s attacking intentions early on when a Del Grosso kissed the post from a dangerous free kick. However, from there Milan found their rhythm and their flair players began to give la Robur’s defence the run around. Pato came close from two identical corners from the left with one even slamming onto the foot of, reserve ‘keeper, Manitta’s post. However, around the half hour they were justifiably rewarded after a splendid passing move involving Gattuso was buried by Inzaghi. There was a sinking feeling of continued poor away form from Siena but they came out in the second half firing on all cylinders. Despite no changes to the squad the Siena took it up an gear and began applying all sorts of pressure to Abbiati’s goal and it took, il capitano, Simone Vergassola to draw them deservedly level 9 minutes after the restart. However, it became a serious case of déjà vu from the weekend when Milan was awarded a penalty for Inzaghi sneezing in the area (or perhaps he tripped over his laces?), Kaka stepped up and just squeezed it past the debutant Manitta in goal. The remainder of the match continued with flowing attacking football from both sides as both managers made attacking changes. Gattuso had a great chance cleared off the line and shortly after Codrea saw his free kick brush centimetres wide with Abbiati rooted to the spot.

It was a defeat that was hard to swallow for Siena fans who saw their heroes fall to their 11th game on the road without a win. Marco Giampaolo confirmed the professionalism in which both him and his squad possess by stating that: “It’s an invented penalty. But I don’t want to protest. We will not make a noise. To lose after a performance like this is positive, but it still hurts,” Giampaolo added. “We deserved a different result, but I hope that this performance keeps the morale of my players high.”
As for Milan, it was their third win on the bounce and one that not only sees them into third but also sees them leapfrog their bitter rivals Inter in the table.

In this post I have tried to rise above lamenting about ‘penalty’ decisions that have very much gone against i bianconeri this week, but just because i am ‘rising above it’, it doesn’t mean that it is not starting to get under my skin! … Please tell my why with all the millions of Euros, the glamorous squad list in which anyone in that squad would walk into the Siena starting line-up, the European pedigree, the huge fan base and one of the most famous stadiums in the entire world; why on earth did they deserve a helping hand from an incompetent referee to help defeat Siena in Milan?! Granted that Milan are currently the flavour of the month at the moment with the Beckham rumours and their great form after a stuttering start, but few people who watched last night’s match can deny that Siena were more than worth a point.

Milan: Abbiati; Antonini, Bonera, Favalli, Zambrotta; Gattuso, Emerson (Ambrosini 71), Seedorf; Kaka; Inzaghi (Shevchenko 77), Pato

Siena: Manitta; Rossettini, Zuniga, (Rossi 56) Portanova, Del Grosso; Vergassola, Codrea, Jarolim (Galloppa 62); Kharja; Ghezzal, Frick (Maccarone 77)

Ref: Celi (dickhead)

Goals: Inzaghi 31 (M), Vergassola 54 (S), Kaka pen 65 (M)

As i stated below, it was a match that both teams really needed to win. It did not matter so much in terms of league position but more so that come the end of year both teams may come to rue points dropped. For me this was definately the case for la Robur. The first 10 minutes of the match saw a Siena that had been missing at Genoa a week earlier and further showed the gulf in home and away performances for the side. Massimo Maccarone was desperately unlucky as only brilliance from the Argentine Albino Bizzarri in the Catania goal stopped Siena romping right from the start. By halftime Bizzarri had racked up a neat pile of quality stops to his name and the Siena faithful’s joy in the performance was turning into frustration. Ghezzal and Maccarone had thrown the kitchen sink at the Catania goal, and it seemed somewhat unfair that Maccarone would leave the game in the 52nd minute, still not on the scoresheet this season. His replacement Calaio’ however was aiming to take his chance after finding himself a regular ‘bencher’ at Siena, and finally he got the breakthrough with a well placed header as he was totally unmarked.

You would be excused if you were to believe that the game was now as good as over. Siena had had most of the game, Zenga’s men rarely ventured forward with any real threat and Siena’s defensive home record boasted of three consecutive cleansheets. But that seemed to be fate’s cue and five minutes after giving the bianconeri the lead they deserved, Calaio’ gave the ball away far to easy and Paolucci, after racing into the area, went down under the merest of touches from Curci. The result was Giuseppe Mascara grabbing a share of the points by sending Curci the wrong way from the spot.

Although the boys really came together on Saturday and not only took the game to high-flying Catania, they dominated it, the sense around the club is that of lingering frustration. With a mid-week away trip to the San Siro to face the newly rejuvenated Milan seeming to only further our poor away form, having dropped the two points will play on the mind of the players.. that is what Giampaolo has to get out of their heads.

Mille Grazie e forza la robur.