Football Season Guide

With the new season just behind the corner, President Cellino, who is famous for his dictatorial behaviours and for the way he disposes of coaches and players alike, decided to give some thrills to Cagliari's players and supporters by sacking Donadoni. The former manager of the Italian national team had saved Cagliari from relegation only a couple of months earlier, leading them to some safe harbours, after Bisoli's short-lived experiment. Allegedly, Donadoni had complained for the policy adopted during the transfer campaign. As a matter of fact, he had all rights to complain since the team had been substantially weakened by the departures of players like Marchetti, even though he had never played during the last season, Lazzari and Acquafresca. And it should not be forgotten that even Matri had left in January, without being replaced at all. Thus, Donadoni was ushered to the door and Ficcadenti, who had succeeded obtaining the safety with Cesena, has taken his place. The new coach has a different tactic credo from his predecessors. He prefers a 4-3-3 formation while Donadoni, Allegri and Bisoli had all adopted a 4-3-1-2 or a 4-3-2-1 system of play. This could represent a minor problem, just one week before the beginning of the new campaign. But the main problem for Cagliari is represented by the lack of a real striker, capable of scoring at least 15 goals. Larrivey, who is back to Sardinia for the third time in the last four years after a season in Argentina, is certainly not the right man. Nor is Nene, who is also extraordinarily injury-prone. Expecting El Kabir to carry such a weight on his shoulders at his very first experience in the Serie A is a bit too much. Thus, one wonders who is going to provide the goals. A skilled midfielder was also expected to replace Lazzari and Ekdal could certainly be the right man, as it proved to be in Siena and Bologna.