Livorno-Parma, a relegation battle with Lucarelli returning home

By: Francesco | March 15th, 2008

This is a new ad Parma did for famous Italian car maker Fiat. Lucarelli looks a little overjoyed to be in a Fiat. More after the jump.

This game is three things:

1) Cuper’s first game in charge of the Gialloblu’. Let’s see what affect he has on the squad. I even thought of a cool new nickname for Cuper. “The Coop”. How cool is that. Di Carlo didn’t even have a cool nickname. Mr. Baldy was ok.

2) A really important game for the Salvezza race. We are only 1 point behind Livorno and a win here would be pretty pretty pretty good. (Any Curb your Enthusiasm fans?)

3) Lucarelli is returning to his hometown, where he will take on his favorite team, and the team that he scored boatloads of goals for, Livorno. I wonder how the Livorno fans will welcome him (whistles? applause? applause followed by whistles?), and how that will affect his play.

Also, the one problem is that we’ve never won an away game this season. Maybe Cuper can help break that curse too?

For those of you that aren’t familiar with The Coop, he likes to play a strict, rigid, 4-4-2, relying on a strong defense, and lots of counter-attacking play.

There are two predicted formations for tomorrow. One is a 4-4-2 with Lucarelli and Budan starting up top, and Gasbarroni and Pisanu playing on the left and right wings. Cigarini and Morrone would be in the center, and in defense Castellini, Rossi, Paci, and Zenoni. Morfeo, Coly, and Couto are all out injured, and Falcone is suspended for this one.

The other predicted formation is a 4-4-2, but with Gasbarroni in a withdrawn striker role behind Budan, moving Lucarelli to the bench. Dessena would play on the right wing.

We’ll have to see which one The Coop goes for. He said some good things in an interview yesterday, like “What matters most is the team, not individual players.”, and “All of the world is expecting Lucarelli’s return to Livorno? I’m not all of the world. Lucarelli can handle the pressure, and I know he was an idol in Tuscany but now he plays for Parma.”

I’m really looking forward to this game and hoping for a Gialloblu revival.

AVANTI CROCIATI!

PS- For Livorno talk, read Marco’s thoughts at the Livorno Offside Blog. Livorno had a good period when Camolese first took over, but it seems lately that he is losing the magic touch, and Spinelli and his yellow raincoat are getting impatient. One player Cuper knows well is Diego Tristan, who he coached at Mallorca, so if he plays Cuper will know how to stop him.