Stellone’s time has finally come?

di Andrea Rosselli

The picture should be clearer tomorrow, but it seems that Alberto Zaccheroni is willing to make a few changes in view of tomorrow evening's clash against Siena. A very delicate match for the Granata, who only picked up one point in the first two rounds, showing glimpses of good play but also plenty of problems on both sides of the pitch. With Pancaro and Brevi still nursing light muscular injuries, there are not many alternatives on the defensive side and therefore we'll likely see the same line of the Udine match (Comotto-Di Loreto-Franceschini-Balestri): on the contrary all of our strikers are healthy, thus giving Zaccheroni plenty of different options upfront.

It will be difficult to have any kind of indication after today's training session, which will be a closed-door one: anyway, it seems that Konan will replace Lazetic like he did in the opening match against Parma, while on-fire Roberto Stellone could finally have his chance from the starting whistle, relieving Abbruscato as the lone striker in our 4-2-3-1 formation. Things could be much different though: after all, when he was appointed as Toro's coach, Zaccheroni said that he often changes his mind the day before the match.

As for Siena, our opponents will surely miss experienced central midfielder Ezio Brevi (younger brother of our former skipper Oscar), who was suspended for one round after being ejected on Sunday against Roma. Coach Mario Beretta will replace him with D'Aversa, while the rest of the starting eleven should be the same of the match against the giallorossi: a classical 4-4-2 with Manninger between the posts, Bertotto, Portanova, Gastaldello and Molinaro on the defensive line, Antonini and Candela on the wings, Vergassola in the middle and Chiesa-Bogdani upfront.