Calabrian Derby

By: Dan | November 22nd, 2009

pagano2 Finally… a point on the road. Not that we had to travel very far. It was the first Derby della Calabria of the 2009-10 campaign with our close neighbors, Crotone. We have recently been on a dreadful run of road results, but on Saturday the spoils were shared in a 1-1 draw.

It’s been difficult to write about this team when we are constantly going 2 or 3 weeks without playing a match. It’s safe to say I’m pretty much fed up with these international postponements..

As we all know we are nowhere near where we thought this Reggina team could be around this time of year. At just 13 points we are occupying a spot in the relegation zone, albeit with a game in hand compared to some of our competition. Ivo Iaconi has brought in a new and interesting 3-4-3 formation. It gained us a valuable win against Saleritana, but that momentum wasn’t able to be carried over the following week against Empoli in a 2-0 loss. A couple weeks passed and we were given this 1-1 draw with Crotone.

Can we start winning on a regular basis? Are these long delays between matches doing more harm than good? Perhaps it allows us to heal our injuries and for Iaconi to get some important training time, but it’s really impossible to build this much needed momentum with this whacky schedule.

On top of this, we have to deal with the distraction of playing Palermo in the Coppa Italia this Thursday – two days before an important showdown with Brescia. Maybe Thursday will be a time for the reserves to shine? Can’t really risk injury at this point. Although it would be nice to stick it to a Serie A team who happens to be our neighbors on that nearby island.

Going back to the Crotone match, we once again saw the use of the 3-4-3. Biagio Pagano (pictured) broke through early on with his second goal of the year, but we allowed Crotone to bounce back in a matters of minutes to make the score 1-1. And 1-1 it would stay for the rest of the 90 minutes. The 3-4-3 is not allowing space for both Daniele Cacia and Emiliano Bonazzoli to shine. It’s a shame cause they are both talented players but only one of them can be used in this system. Although it was a surprise to see that NEITHER started against Crotone. Instead we saw the young Alessio Viola leading the trident attack with Brienza and Pagano. I’m sure Viola is good young talent, but we have the talent at our disposal and we need to use it. Bonazzoli should be starting without question.

I’m just rambling now. I hope everyone out there in the states enjoys their Thanksgiving. And hopefully we can have something to be thankful for this weekend.