nerf

Sunday 3rd November 2002

6th-placed Olbia visit Ragusa today for our 10th match of the league season. Gaspare Pellegrino is suspended after picking up his 4th yellow card against Gladiator, but Infantino is fit enough to return to the side. Dario Italia is also back but I don't want to rush him, so he will sit on the bench and Ursino keeps his place.

Serie C2/C
Ragusa v Olbia

Ragusa lineup - Lenea; Tamburro©, Ursino, Infantino, Guastella; Cirillo, Bonaffini, Manoni; Caramel; Ferrara, Gallicchio.

A tight affair had to be settled by a moment of brilliance in the second half. On 64 minutes Ferrara's long throw from the left was headed out by Olbia defender Polizzano, the ball struck substitute Bonarrigo and bounced across the middle of the pitch. The Olbia defenders came running out to try and leave our attackers stranded offside, with their keeper Luca Pastine screaming at them to get out as he chased them to the edge of his area. Manolo Manoni collected the loose ball centrally 35 yards out, spotted the keeper chasing his defenders out, and calmly lofted the ball high over his head. Luca Pastine saw it too late and went scrambling back, but the ball scraped underneath the crossbar for a fabulous goal.

Pietro Infantino had to be taken off with a chest injury after colliding with another player, so more reshuffling was needed and Tamburro had to cover at centre half again. With 5 minutes to go Olbia thought they had equalised when Siazzu latched onto the end of Manca's ball into the box, but his finish was ruled out for offside - much to my relief - and we hung on for the win.

Final score: Ragusa 1 - 0 Olbia

nerf

Monday 4th November 2002

Upon completing 10 league fixtures of the season, the table looks like THIS

After a start of 3 straight defeats and experiencing being bottom of the league, we have lost only once in our following 7 matches and have climbed up to a slightly more respectable 11th. It is no less than I would have hoped for pre-season, but after the poor start we made I have to be happy that we managed to turn it around.

Injuries are beginning to tell now; we are short on cover with such a small squad so players are being forced to play out of position (although in Marco Cirillo's case this seems to have been a blessing in disguise so far). I am particularly concerned about the centre of defence, where our two veterans are finding it difficult to play every match.

The midfield should be helped by the signing of young Stephen Cooke. The 19 year old product of Aston Villa's promising youth system completed his loan deal today and will arrive this week for his character-building experience abroad. I will be doing my utmost to help him settle over here and hope that he will be able to add a touch of quality to the team for the rest of the season.

Also arriving this week is my new assistant manager, thanks to Emanuele's recommendation. It seems to have taken an absolute age to find someone willing to take the job, but that someone is 47 year old Italian Antonio Angelo Ranucci. Antonio has been working as a scout at Frosinone, but he has decent coaching credentials and was no doubt tempted by the opportunity to quadruple his wages! We will also owe Frosinone £4,000 in compensation.

nerf

Wednesday 5th November

Antonio arrived in Ragusa yesterday, and myself and Leo (one of our two coaches) gave him the welcome tour. He seems to have a good amount of tactical knowledge and has experience of working with and disciplining developing players, which should come in handy considering the amount of young players that we have at the club. He is also formerly a scout, so he should be able to spot a good player when he sees one and won't take too long to get to know the squad. All in all, first impressions were positive.

Today I was at the airport to collect Stephen Cooke. He had been put on a plane from England and was abroad alone for the first time, and doesn't speak any Italian, so no doubt this will all be quite daunting for him. He will be staying in accomodation close to mine, so I will be able to keep an eye on him to help him settle in.

It is the ideal time for both new arrivals to join us, as we have a break of a week and a half for them to get used to the place before we visit Fidelis Andria on the 17th. It also gives Pietro Infantino time to recouperate following the chest injury sustained in the Olbia match.

nerf

Tuesday 12th November 2002

The usual mix of good news and bad news greeted me today. I had a meeting with Giuseppe Antoci about our financial situation, and it appears that although our wage bill is well under the budget, the ground maintenance costs and general expenses are mounting up to the tune of a loss of some £23,000 for the season already - over a fifth of our starting pot. Signor Antoci insists that I shouldn't worry, that he will handle it and that I should continue to make progress on the pitch. I hope he knows what he's doing.

The good news came from Salvatore, our head physio. He tells me that wingback Danilo Sabellini has recovered from his injury a couple of weeks ahead of schedule and is ready to return to full training, giving us a bit more cover in defence. He had looked capable in the brief glimpse I saw of him before his injury in Pordenone so it will be nice to have him back in competition with Stefano Guastella. Barring any accidents in training between now and Sunday, it will be the first time I have had a fully fit squad since then.


Thursday 14th November 2002

Over in Spain tonight, Intertoto winners Aston Villa were taking a 2-0 1st leg lead to Real Betis in the 2nd round of the UEFA Cup. Unfortunately for them they are blown away by the Spaniards, who are inspired by a brace of goals from £10 million man Henrik Larsson to dominate the game 4-1 and send the English club crashing out 3-4 on aggregate.

nerf

Sunday 17th November 2002

Today we travel to Andria in south-east Italy with a full squad. Sabellini and Cooke will both be on the bench while Dario Italia returns to the starting eleven.

Serie C2/C
Fidelis Andria v Ragusa

Ragusa lineup - Lenea; Tamburro(c), Infantino, Italia, Guastella; Cirillo, Pellegrino, Manoni; Caramel; Ferrara, Gallicchio.

The home side made the better start with Giuseppe Lenea being called on to make a couple of early saves, before striker Andrea Di Napoli struck the post with a thundering shot. On 38 minutes however, Giancarlo Ferrara made them pay for not converting their chances by skipping through and converting one of his own to give us the lead.

It was a lead that almost made it to half-time. In injury time at the end of the first half, Stefano Guastella was whistled for bringing down an attacker in the box and conceded a penalty to go with a yellow card. Faieta placed the ball on the spot to face Lenea, and although the confident 17 year old got a hand to it the shot was too powerful to keep out. 1-1 at the half.

I introduced Stephen Cooke in place of Manoni at half-time and Sabellini replaced Guastella on the hour. On 69 minutes Cooke made a bursting forward run past the strikers and received the ball from Gallicchio, but his shot was too high and flew over the bar.

Three minutes later Fidelis Andria gained the lead. Faieta swept a long ball down the line to where Lanotte had left Tamburro trailing, and Lanotte's cross was flicked home by the head of Spinelli at the near post. We fought back though, when Stephen Cooke won the ball well on the halfway line and looked for Claudio Gallicchio through the centre. Claudio unselfishly took one touch to control and slipped it across perfectly into the path of the onrushing Ferrara, who gratefully fired in his 7th league goal and 9th of the season to make it 2-2 with five minutes remaining.

The home side only needed a matter of seconds. The resulting kick-off was knocked back to Faieta, who turned and floated a familiar ball down the right wing. In an almost action replay of their previous goal, Lanotte again found himself breezing in behind Tamburro to cross towards the near post. This time striker Stefano Morello brought the ball down, and finished Beardsley-esque by smashing the ball into the far top corner from a tight angle.

Final score: Fidelis Andria 3 - 2 Ragusa

nerf

Monday 18th November 2002

Another 3-2 loss away from home with the winner coming in the 86th minute, just like at Gela. It continues our less than spectacular away form where we have yet to find a win on our travels, gaining just 2 points from a possible 18, so that is something we will seriously have to look at. It might be an idea to start adopting the 'win the home games and draw the away games' policy. We have shown that we can score goals but we have been conceding far too many in our away matches (14 goals against in 6 away games), so perhaps we should start to look into trying to keep it tighter when playing away, even if this involves a change of formation. I'll bear it in mind.



Sunday 24th November 2002

This week we are hosting Catanzaro at the Aldo Campo Selvaggio, and there's a full house of 3497 to greet them. Catanzaro currently lie 7th in the table.

Serie C2/C
Ragusa v Catanzaro

Ragusa lineup - Lenea; Tamburro(c), Infantino, Italia, Guastella; Cirillo, Pellegrino, Manoni; Caramel; Ferrara, Gallicchio.

A reasonably quiet and even first half is shattered by Catanzaro striker Fabio Moscelli on 30 minutes. The ball is played infield to him over 35 yards out, and Infantino has backed off thinking there is no danger. Moscelli has other plans however and winds up to unleash a rocket of a shot at goal... Lenea flings himself to his left but his fingertips are not enough and the ball crashes into the back of the net for a stunning goal.

5 minutes later we are awarded a free kick outside the Catanzaro area some 30 yards from goal. Gaspare Pellegrino is hardly a set piece master but decides to try his luck, and discovers that his luck deflects the ball off the Catanzaro wall to wrongfoot keeper Luca Gentili. 1-1, his first ever goal for the club.

Early in the second half Moscelli tries another outrageous 40 yard blast that Lenea is relieved to see fly past his upright. On 70 minutes I send Sabellini and Cooke on to replace Guastella and Cirillo, and we start to dominate with both Caramel and Ferrara coming close to giving us the lead. Unfortunately Caramel's shot is tipped round the post and Ferrara puts his chance narrowly over the bar.

As late as the 89th minute Stephen Cooke almost became the hero. Giancarlo Ferrara drifted out onto the right wing to receive the ball, turned, and knocked it inside to Vladimiro Caramel. Vladi took the ball forward and spotted Cooke dashing up the left channel, so slid the ball forward into his path. The young English midfielder brought it under control, looked up, and took a swing with his right foot from 30 yards. Gentili was rooted to the spot helplessly as the ball screamed past him, only to see it smash off the underside of his crossbar and bounce back into his arms.

Final score: Ragusa 1 - 1 Catanzaro

Peacemaker7

Still lookng good nerf, hope you keep this going a long long time

nerf

Thanks Peacemaker7 , I hope you continue reading.


Wednesday 27th November 2002

I caught some Champions League football tonight on television, with both Milan teams in action in the second phase. Internazionale were back in England to face Bobby Robson's Newcastle at St James's Park and almost came away with the 3 points. Twice they led through Zanetti and Vieri with Craig Bellamy scoring in between, only for Jonathan Woodgate to pop up in the box at a set piece and poke home an 88th minute equaliser. Woodgate had looked very impressive against such high quality opposition with his goal being just reward for a commanding performance, and will surely be considered for the next England squad.

Meanwhile AC Milan fought out an exciting 3-3 draw in the Nou Camp, with Patrick Kluivert grabbing a hattrick on one of his rare 'on' nights. I have never been an admirer of the Dutch forward but I suppose to stay the main striker at a club like Barcelona he must be doing things like this more often than I'm aware.

nerf

Sunday 1st December 2002

We have journeyed up the west coast of Italy to Latina, a coastal town just south of Rome. Latina are presently sitting bottom of the division but the bookies still favour them over us. Pietro Infantino picked up his fourth yellow card against Catanzaro and is suspended for this match, so Ursino will step into his position at the back. I resist the temptation to start Sabellini and Cooke until they get some more match fitness.

Serie C2/C
Latina v Ragusa

Ragusa lineup - Lenea; Tamburro(c), Ursino, Italia, Guastella; Cirillo, Pellegrino, Manoni; Caramel; Ferrara, Gallicchio.

On 16 minutes I can only watch when a gaping hole appears in our defence. Ursino's lack of pace means he is slow getting across as Maurizio Tacchi glides into the gap with ease, and he strokes the ball from the edge of the area with the outside of his left foot. Lenea has no chance as the ball clips off the inside of the near post and bounces into the far corner.

5 minutes later it is two. Tacchi, left far too open again, moves into the box through the right channel and cuts the ball back across. Latina's Alessandro Marzio improvises impressively to volley it towards goal, and the ball arrows into the top corner to make it 2-0.

Final score: Latina 2 - 0 Ragusa

nerf

Monday 2nd December 2002

Yesterday confirmed that we are not really set up well for away matches and that we are defensively weak. Latina were allowed far too much space early on and punished us for it, and we can't afford to give our opponents headstarts like that.

I contacted our scout Enrico to send him out to look at a few central defenders. With Infantino and Italia struggling to play every match and Graziano Ursino not exactly proving to be a reliable backup, we desperately need at least one new centre back to help plug some holes. Tacchi gave Ursino a hell of a run around all match and was involved in both goals.

Defence is really our only weak position and it is costing us. We have two good goalkeepers, a decent midfield and a competent strikeforce, with Gaspare Pellegrino, Vladimiro Caramel and Giancarlo Ferrara being the undoubted stars. Other players like Lenea, Tamburro, Manoni and Gallicchio have occasionally stepped up to contribute, but the other three have been consistently impressive even in a loss like yesterday's. If we can shore up the defence a bit more then I'm confident that we can really start to make some progress.