We was robbed! Cristante picked up two bookings despite apparently winning the ball in both tackles. (Makes him less of an idiot, but still not deserving to pull the Piace shirt on just yet. What has happened to him? To think he was our player of the season when he first played for us!)

Yes the only good news form that game is that Cristante won't play the next one!

Ivano, as you probably know ultras were just disappointed by the continuing attitude of our President to complain about the fans the city etc... (although he's right!)

Nice to see yet another Piacenza player earning a call-up to the Under 21 side: "Chievo" defender Andrea Barzagli.

But is he still Piacenza owned?

Does it matter...? We bought him from Ascoli 2 seasons ago, beating off competition from Juve. Then we loaned him back to Ascoli. He started pre-season with us, but we loaned him to Chievo as part of the Cipriani deal: I think we still own half his registration (but, knowing us, we don't!)

We also brought Santana to Italy via our network of scouts in Argentina last season. We had the chance to sign him, but couldn't find the £1M... typical! Now he is setting Serie A alight!

Ooops! Meant the Beghetto deal!

Throwing away a 2 goal lead away to Como... those 2 lost points could be vital at the end of the season. We dominated the first half, and shouldn't have let this game slip... and we can't even blame Cristante this time! D'Anna played instead of him, and didn't have a good game, and neither did Campagnaro. Abbate also had a bit of a run out, so hopefully Cagni will not lose faith in thm.

A more than deserved 1-1 draw away to Palermo. Piace were the better team throughout, and really let in a sloppy goal during their best period of the game.

Campagnaro and Patrascu started, Cristante was again our least effective player. Abbate must start in his place soon: Cagni chose him as a first team regular in Serie A, yet leaves him on the bench in Serie B! Unbelievable!

We still have Ambrosetti and Edusei to come back from injury, so, despite being 6 points off the top of the league, things are looking OK at the moment.

Yes

I am very confident with this team...It just needs time to grow up and learn from mistakes, but I am sure we'll be there, fighting for serie A, until the end of the season.

By the way, will the fifth (or sixth?) in the league play off against third from bottom of serie A? If so, it will be good fun!

A nice little victory against Messina tomorrow and we will spring up into a decent position in the table: at the moment, we are handily placed in equal fifth.

I just hope Cagni doesn't play defensive (as he usually does away from home!) We have thrown points away against Atalanta, Fiorentina and Como, so I hope we learn from our mistakes now.

... so, what does Cagni do... leaves Campagnaro out of the side, plays Cristante, and then there is total confusion between him and Guardalben for the first goal!

2-0 defeat against Messina! It's Christmas come early for them.

Cagni: play Campagnaro and Abbate, please! And play 4-4-2 even away from home. At this rate, we are no better than a mid-table position.

Abbate must have played 5 minutes all season: he is even better than the "wonder kid" Andrea Barzagli!

293 paying customers at the Garilli last night! These Saturday night games and the extended Serie B are killing football! How are clubs supposed to survive if no one goes to watch football?

Low crowds have been the norm in Serie B this season, other than at the "big" clubs. Hardly any point in Piace fighting for promotion this season: we will have no money to spend in 2004-2005 at this rate!

The fans want a new ground (which I suppose we do need and would be nice) and a top-notch team... but they will have to spend their money and get behind the team first!

Hey, C4 Ed, we had a player sent off and played most of the game with 10-men last night, but no mention of that in your report...

Serie C! Serie C! We can forget promotion this seaosn at this rate! "Andate a lavorare"!

...Disaster!!

We just keep throwing away points and losing to teams we shouldn't be! I wouldn't mind if we actually played well and lost to a stunning goal or performance, but all the games we have lost have been due to defensive or refereeing errors!

Still, the classifica still looks promising, but we just have to tighten up at the back! Still no Abbate! Perhaps Cagni is waiting to play him after the transfer window has closed, so that way we won’t be tempted to sell him this season if a good offer comes in.

Good point...
I really don't undesratand why Abbate has not been given a chance yet this season. Surely he'll be an asset for Piace in the near future.

Glad to hear that Garilli might provide extra money to be invested in new players in January. With a leader or a couple of qualitative players we could make a step up and really aim for the promotion.

By the way, in Catania there were about 50 supporters from Piacenza. You could see them on TV and it was great to see such a good group in one of the farest trips. It is a shame that when we play at home we can't really make the difference in terms of support due to the bad structure of our stadium. Basically to go in Curva means not to watch the game...

It would be great if we can get Di Francesco back in January. I also expect someone to be loaned to us by Chievo, as they try to sweeten us up a bit in an effort to get Barzagli! No chance!

I'm off to PC in April/May, but the season will be over by then. We really do need to redevelop the Garilli: it is literally falling down.

Ivano, do you know why all the games are at 2pm on Sunday this weekend? Is this a permanent thing? I hope so, I don't like Saturday night games.

Un sogno chiamato Manuel Rui Costa, a Giugno tornerà?

I didn't realise the games had been moved to 2pm Sunday this week. Saves me desperately listening to Radio RAI on the www tonight then!

It will probably be for the next 3-4 months, as the entire fixture lists gets moved to the afternoon in the Winter, as they are so harsh in Northern Italy. (It has started snowing in and around Piacenza this week.)

Serie B was moved to a different day than Serie A a few season back, to try and improve attendances - both TV and at the stadium. I don't really mind the Saturday kick-offs, but can't see why Serie B has to be played in the evening for most of the year.

Cheers.

Un sogno chiamato Manuel Rui Costa, a Giugno tornerà?