Hey a win would have tied us with fellow Tuscans Empoli for first place. But our eleventh tie of the season against Triestina still puts us 3rd !. But like Mr. Acori says : In a long tournament like this one consistency goes a long way. We now know Livorno are a hard team to beat but we need to stop dominating games and getting 1 point out of it. It’s time to string a run of ugly wins if we have to.

But no win can be ugly if Ale Diamanti continues pulling shots out of his ass. The kid can seriously kick it ! His left foot is surgical and he’s starting to develop in a more complete and well-rounded player of Serie A caliber. Diamanti Volleyed in a corner from the top of the box to give Livorno the lead on Saturday. You’ll see in the highlights but this kid is seriously starting to shine week in and week out. I feel like I’m writing the same thing week in a week out ; Draw with a nice Diamanti goal, the midfield was solid, Livorno dominated but they can’t seem to find that darned winning goal. Tavano and Danilevicius missed easy goals and Diamanti created many chances for himself and others and the defense was solid.

Pretty much the same story…a part from the fact that De Lucia is looking great in Serie B and Aleandro Rosi is gonna be a star someday. Slow and steady towards Serie A…

Check out the goals !

TRIESTINA 1-1 LIVORNO

TRIESTINA (4-4-2): Agazzi, Milani, Cottafava, Minelli, Rullo, Antonelli, Allegretti, Princivalli, Tabbiani (28′ st Gorgone), Testini, Della Rocca (14′ st Ardemagni). (1 Dei, 86 Cacciatore, 66 Lima, 44 Piangerelli, 10 Figoli). All. Maran.

LIVORNO (4-3-1-2): De Lucia, Rosi, Perticone, Miglionico, Bonetto, Pulzetti (29′ st Candreva), Loviso (41′ st Filippini), Bergvold, Diamanti, Tavano, Danilevicius (31′ st Laurito). (19 Mazzoni, 46 Rizza, 66 Galante, 22 Volpe). All. Acori.

Allright !

So Livorno have now shrugged off that nasty addiction to the nil-nil draw. After 3 straight double goose eggs the Amaranto Liberation Army smashed 3 beautiful goals on saturday while in the process of owning Salernitana. Livorno played around all night and it got even easier when Sal went down to 10 men for 45 minutes. This means i actually have highlights to show. Tavano, Candreva and Ale Diamanti got on the sheet with some nice strikes. Now Livorno stand 3 points away from leaders Empoli in 6th place.

Ok so even though Livorno’s looking good , we’ve drawn 10 times in 16 days, 6 of those were 0-0 draws. Empoli, Torino doesn’t count, is the only team that beat us all year! Now we need to start winning on a consistent basis

so random thoughts and numbers :

1 : The defense is pretty much on point even if Grandoni and Galante aren’T really doing their part

2: Tomas Danilevicius makes Fausto Rossini look like Amauri. Danilevicius can’t find the back of the net if would add volume to his hair. Good thing is that Diamanti and Tavano have been picking up the slack. Hell even Fausto played his part when he was healthy.

3: Coach Acori knows what he’s doing ! The Defense is tight and the progress of youngsters Candreva, Rosi, Volpe and even

4: Alfonso De Lucia does a pretty impressive Marco Amelia impersonation. Altough i had serious doubts about him at the start of the stagione , I have to admit he’s been solid infront of nets thus far

5: Goals Against : 11 Goals For : 22

6: Teams like Chievo and Bologna would kill to have our midfield.

7: Tavano keeps on playing great 1 every 3 games. We can live with that because of Alessandro Diamanti

8 : Speaking of the homeless man’s Antonio Cassano, Beppe Marotta wants to bring him to Pesto town and join Samp !

IL TABELLINO

Marcatori: 21’ Tavano, 68’Candreva, 91′ Diamanti

Livorno (4-3-2-1): De Lucia 6,5; Rosi 7, Perticone 6, Miglionico 6, Bonetto 6,5 (33’ st Grandoni sv); Pulzetti 6, Loviso 5,5 (11’ st Candreva 6,5), Bergvold 7 (41’ st A.Filippini sv); Diamanti 6,5, Tavano 7; Danilevicius 5. A disp: Mazzoni, Rizza, Volpe, Laurito. All. Acori 6,5.

Espulso: Peccarisi (S) al 46’ pt per doppia ammonizione

Livorno beat Vicenza away for the first time since the 1950’s! This exactly the kind of game Livorno needed to win. Aleandro Rosi is out for 15 days, Grandoni was out, Massimo Loviso couldn’t manage to make it and the surprisingly excellent Fausto Rossini had to leave after only 20 minutes. Livorno grinded out 3 deserved points to reach 22 points, 2 away from leaders Sassuolo ! Livorno suffered all day long with Vicenza camping out in their half all game long. The occasional lethal counter attack was deployed but Livorno had to stay focused. Vicenza fans will argue that they deserved the win, not to mention at least a point but Livorno did what every go team needs to do, grind out an ugly 3 points.

Tavano managed to screw up 2 easy chances and Alfonso De Lucia had to save 2 balls on the line but Ale Diamanti broke the deadlock and the Labronici held on for the win. Ale Diamanti’s long-range goal came right after he hit the crossbar from about 20 yards out. Acori’s 4-3-2-1 is still working perfectly and Livorno fans will be happy to see the surprisingly solid depth this team has. Candreva filled in perfectly for Loviso, Francesco Volpe is a great sub, Bonetto’s amazing, Perticone is solid and versatile, Alfonso De Lucia is almost making us forget about Marco Amelia and we don’t even need to wait after Tavano’s occasional brilliance.

Tabellino :

Livorno ( 4-3-2-1) De Lucia, Miglionico, Terranova, Perticone, Bonetto, Candreva ( dal 14′ s.t. Volpe ), Pulzetti, Bergvold, Tavano, Diamanti ( dal 37’s.t. Rizza ), Rossini ( dal 23′ p.t. Danilevicius). A disp Mazzoni, Paulinho, Filippini E., Diniz. All. Acori

Vicenza ( 4-3-2-1) Fortin, Zanchi, Di Cesare, Giani, Martinelli ( dal 38’s.t. Margiotta ), Bernardini, Bottone ( dal 1’s.t Morosini ), Botta, Capone ( dal 9’s.t. Foglio ), Sgrigna, Bjelanovic. A disp : Frison, Calori, Fatic, Serafini.
Ammoniti : Candreva, Pulzetti, Perticone, Danilevicius, Zanchi.
Marcatori : al 33’s.t. Diamanti

The Labronici were planning on fielding the young guns a lot and returning to Serie A in 2010, but this very positive play is giving us hope for a quicker return. Grandoni, Galante, Bergvold, Bonetto, Tavano,Pulzetti and Diamanti could all be an important part of at least one Serie A team right now !

Hell, Livorno’s project of reaching Serie A within 2 years needs to be reconsidered !

Fabio Galante’s so happy about this that he decided to comeback. He was in the stands on Saturday but he should b game fit in less then 2-3 weeks.

Another loss less week and 2 points added to the board. Livorno managed to tie Bari 0-0 last Tuesday and obtained the same scoreline on Saturday in the Derby with Grosseto.

I can’t say that I’m happy with the results but at least we’re still unbeaten in Serie B. The game versus Bari saw Acori juggle with many notable absences. Francesco Tavano played awfully but to his defence he was left alone for a large part of the game.

Thanks to Alfonso De Lucia, Livorno managed to come back home with one point. Even Leonardo Acori claimed that Livorno was lucky to get the draw against a surprisingly lively and combative Bari side. We can now officially add them to the list of realistic Serie A hopefuls. Antonio Conte is really doing something special with this Bari side.
I didn’t manage to see the game and I don’t have any highlights or stats for you so let’s move on to yet another Tuscan Derby…

But don’t forget www.livornochannel.com for un-embeddable full highlights…

Livorno 0-0 Grosseto.

The positive thing is the clean sheets. Livorno’s defense is solid and if it weren’t for Acerbis’s crazy display in front of Grosseto’s net, Livorno would have taken all 3 points from this game. As predicted, Francesco Tavano disappeared and The Lithuanian Non-sensation Danilevicius managed to choke in front of an easy goal like only he can ! Diamanti’s zigzagging and Bonetto’s daring runs didn’t manage to get the win.

LIVORNO-GROSSETO 0-0

GROSSETO (4-1-4-1): Acerbis 6,5; Freddi 6, Porchia 6, Stendardo 6, Abruzzese 6; Cordova 6; Gessa 6,5,Valeri 6 (24’ pt Vitiello 6,5), Consonni 6,5, Gessa 6,5 (38’ pt Sansovini 6), Lazzari 6; Sforzini 5,5 (32’ st Pichlmann sv). A disp: Caparco, Federici, Vitiello, Carparelli, Suppa, Sansovini, Pichlmann. All. Gustinetti 6,5.

The thing is that defence is solid with Grandoni and a surprisingly excellent Perticone, Nicola Candreva’s playing well enough that he should start giving Tavano and the Lithuanian a run for their starting shirt soon, Pulzetti and Diamanti are starting to add continuity to their good play and Aleandro Rosi is a pleasant surprise at left back. All we need is for Tavano to show up more than once every 5 games, Danilevicius needs to start bagging those easy goals and Massimo Loviso needs to step it up a notch and remind us why he was once an Italian U21 regular.

We’re still in 10th place with 9 points and have an important game against Empoli, that’s right a 3rd Tuscan derby in 3 weeks….

Forza Labronici !

Now on to Livorno for the Coppa Italia…

* highlights further down

Fabrizio I thought you were cool man!? You have that Che Guevara Tattoo on your big ass left calf, I thought you would cut us some slack. We’re comrades, what the hell!
Your second half goal was enough to see Palermo pass by Livorno to earn all 3 points on Saturday.

After playing Juventus and Palermo at the beggining of the Season, Livorno had conceded 9 goals in those 2 games. We didn’t pick up points this time around either, but At least , the defence only gave up 4 goals.

GC Camolese fielded the usual 3-5-2 in Palermo; Simone Pavan was in for an Injured Ale Grandoni and Massimo Loviso replaced the suspended Daniel De Vezze. Nico Pulzetti, A. Filippini and Jose Vidigal filled in the other Midfield spots.

Diego Tristan’s recent negative run saw him lose his regular spot alongside Ciccio Tavano to Erjon Bogdani. Palermo coach Francesco Guidolin popped out a Cavani-Miccoli-Amauri trident and started out new arrival Balzaretti(surprisingly excellent!) right from the get go.

Big Bad Bogdani had a great chance in the 21st minute only to see Alberto Fontana make a miraculous save to keep the score at 0-0. His finishing was lacking but at least he gives you a big presence up front. The Albanian hitman ( not that kind of Albanian Hitman!) wasn’t able take advantage of his first start of 2008.

45 minutes in to the game, a Zaccardo handball in the box earned Livorno a rigore. Only to see Francesco Tavano’s shot be blocked by Palermo’s 40 year old keeper. I don’t understand why Maurizio Zamparini is still complaining about not getting Marco Amelia. The old man, Fontana not Zamparini, was on extraordinary form Saturday, stopping all of Livorno’s attempts at goal.

I don’t understand why Amelia is worth 8 M$ more than Fontana. Age you say? Good Point.

Livorno started off the second half strong, fighting with the Pink boys for every ball. Jose Vidigal and Massimo Loviso played as best as their limited talent permited, but Fabrizio Miccoli’s long range shot was enough to break the deadlock after 76 minutes. Giancarlo Camolese desperately tried to shake things up by bringing in Edgar Alvarez and Fausto Rossini for Balleri and Bogdani but Palermo managed to hold on for the rest of the match. For the first time since his appointment, GC Camolese made some questionnable substitutions. The Loviso and Balleri ones can be excused, but putting in Rossini to try to win the game? 2 of the 4 Palermo defenders are WC Winners and This isn’t Serie C.

The fact that Rossini came on instead of Diego Tristan is a bad sign for Livorno and Diego Tristan. I Hope the Andalusian isn’t hallucinating, thinking a more psychedelic version of Fernando Orsi is still in charge.

Aho Diego ! Wake up and smell the end of your career! it’s called T-R-A-I-N-I-N-G and it’s good for you

Palermo – Livorno : 1-0

Ammoniti: Pavan, Zaccardo, Loviso, Vidigal

Miccoli’s Goal

Set Piece Defending ;

Another goal caused by bad set piece defending, Livorno’s 420th of the season. I don’t get it, Livorno isn’t Roma, i mean , our biggest player isn’t 5′5”, we have big bodies out there so why aren’t we capable of clearing out balls in the box.

And what the hell is wrong with Francesco Tavano?

When a team like Livorno gets a penalty shot, you absolutely need to bury those chances! Alberto Fontana deserves some credit but why the hell would you kick it stupidly like that! The momentum of the game changes completely If that penalty goes in, like it should have. The pink boys would have seen their spirits shattered and Livorno comes out of this game with at least a point. Damn you Francesco !

Livorno have now lost their 2 last games to the hands of Palermo and Juventus. The Amaranto Liberation Army will be hoping to get some good results from the Sunday games, hoping not to drastically fall down the table.

Forza Labronici !

After a rather impressive and surprising unbeaten run Livorno had to exit the bandwagon on Suunday. The 3-1 loss to Juventus and David Trezeguet officially marks the end of the 9 game non-losing streak. Juventus get to brag about their 11 game streak. Livorno came out with the usual 5-3-2 tactics and started the match looking great. The Labronici had some decent chances and looked confident for the first 25 minutes. Giovanni Pasquale had a great occasion to open up the score on 16 minutes when Juventus left side went amnesic and let him breeze by everybody on the left flank only to see Belardi reject the 2 resulting shots. Livorno started the match well, enough so to hear the extremely American Fox commentator say things like; This isn’t your daddy’s Juventus defending !

The attack looked threatening, minus Diego Tristan who needed to change boots after 10 minutes because he figured his new shoes might be the reason why he was sucking hard

The defense was looking organised and the Amaranto* were patrolling both flanks quite well. Then a bad Galante clearance gave Cristiano Zanetti the chance to dish out a splendid pass to David Trezeguet who happily opened up the score in the 28th. Livorno never recovered. Alè Del Piero scored just 4 minutes after the break and, 14 minutes later, he dished out a beautiful pass for Trezeguet to finish. In between those 2 goals, Daniele De Vezze managed to get sent off for 2 yellows, a little harsh in my opinion. So Down 1 man and 3-0 after 63 minutes!

Even with 10 men on the field, Livorno fought well and proved they deserved their recent success. Francesco Tavano hit the post on a set piece, however only Erjon Bogdani’s managed to pull one back for the Amaranto, his first goal in an burgundy shirt, but it came to late to muster any type of comeback. It finished 3-1 !

*Disclaimer : In the I Garzantini Italian dictionary Amaranto is 3 things ;

1st pianta erbacea con infiorescenze a spiga color rossa porpora .

2nd Colore rosso scuro, tipico dei fiori dell’amaranto.

3rd ; Agg. n.m e f. invar.; Relativo alle squadre di calico del Livorno, della Reggina e dell’Arezzo che hanno lo stesso colore

Unlike juventino or Giallorosso, but like Granata, Amaranto is invariabile

Highlights

LIVORNO-JUVE 1-3

Livorno (3-5-2): Amelia; Grandoni, Knezevic, Galante; Balleri, A. Filippini (14′ st Pulzetti), De Vezze, Vidigal, Pasquale; Tavano, Tristan (14′ st Bogdani). A disp. De Lucia, Pavan, Rezaei, E. Filippini, Diamanti. All. Camolese

Juventus (4-4-2): Belardi; Salihamidzic (14′ st Birindelli), Legrottaglie, Grygera, Molinaro; Palladino, Nocerino, C. Zanetti, Nedved (45′ st Castiglia); Del Piero (28′ st Iaquinta), Trezeguet. A disp. Vanstrattan, Ariaudo, D’Elia, Tiago. All. Ranieri

Arbitro: Morganti di Ascoli Piceno

Marcatori: 30′ pt Trezeguet (J), 4′ st Del Piero (J), 18′ st Trezeguet (J), 34′ st Bogdani (L)

Note: espulso al 9′ st De Vezze (L) per doppia ammonizione. Ammoniti Vidigal, Palladino, C. Zanetti, Grygera, Balleri, Nocerino, Iaquinta. Recupero 2′ pt, 3′ st.

Spettatori 18.000 circa.

2 bad calls were made on both sides; the only thing is that the Offside called against Livorno (seen here) happened when the score was still at 0-0. Wonder how that would have affected the outcome seeing how Tristan and Tavano were unmarked and both headed to goal. I would maybe add the harsh sending off of DDV who was by far the most dangerous player Livorno had working the midfield.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not blaming the refs at all for the loss. This game could have been completely different if Livorno had gotten an early go-ahead goal, like they should of. No Marco Amelia Miracles today so Livorno get no points from their 2 encounters with Juve this season.

The recipe for a Livorno win is this ; to defend in 8-9, counter attack, Marco Amelia needs to save at least 1 sure goal and Tristan or Tavavno need to pull something out of their ass in offense.

This didn’t happen at all during the game, except for that 9 man defense part. Livorno had 29.7% ball possession all game! A 10 man Livorno squad wasn’t going come back from 2 goals down against a fine tuned (ok, maybe not the defense) Juventus squad. Come to think of it, 5 of David Trezeguet’s 15 goals of the season we’re scored against us. That’s 33.33333% (I have a calculator on my PC) of his seasonal total!

So what does GC Camolese think of all this ?

“Cosa e’ successo? Ci siamo dimenticati che stavamo giocando con la Juventus. Abbiamo concesso troppi spazi, troppi contropiede, troppe ripartenze”.

“E’ stato giusto andare dietro all’entusiasmo dei tifosi perche’ venivamo da nove risultati utili consecutivi. Peccato perche’ abbiamo vanificato una buona partita”. Siamo stati meno precisi del solito, in questo ultimo periodo abbiamo concesso poco agli avversari perche’ siamo stati attenti. Questa sera probabilmente il valore degli avversari e anche l’entusiasmo della squadra nell’affrontare una gara come questa ci ha tradito nel momento in cui si doveva ragionare”.

Free Translation :

Today Tristan sucked, But Bogdani showed some nice things and managed to score his first of the season. The Albanian is another one of my weapons for the final stretch. Maybe the emotion of playing Juve after a spell this positive got to our heads and we weren’t as attentive as usual.

Big deal, losing to a team like Juve is not a disaster for Livorno. (Not seeing GiGi Buffon in nets is bizarre, Juve’s likeability ratings must plummet by at least 50% and Pavel Nedved acts and looks like a little boy, I hate him)

On the positive side of things, Livorno weren’t out done on the field on Sunday and The Armando Picchi was filled with 18,000 fans, the best crowd of the season.

Despite the loss, Livorno remains in 13th place with a game in hand, Thank you Lazio for sucking, other results in Serie A helped out as well.

Now let’s just hope that Aldo Spinelli comes up with a decent midfielder in the next 3 days…