Not all has been said about the season, but we pretty much all get the picture. Livorno were condemned to Serie B from the get go. From the ; Ciao Lucarelli and Morrone to the Hello Diego Tristan,Vikash Dhorasoo and Francesco Tavano. Unfortunately, Spinelli’s all around stubbornness and many offield antics (Promising to bring Lucarelli back, Wanting to weigh each player personally, Poutin and wanting to sell the club, his phone conversations with Luciano Moggi and his stupid penny pinching transfer window), Fernando Orsi ‘s awful start and end of the season mixed in with Livorno’s inability at scoring goals and you have yourself a recipe for Serie B. All I have to say is that La Nazionale needs to start loaning each and every potential goalkeeping star to Livorno. Just like Marco Amelia, your promised to see the youngster get peppered with shots week in and week out. (I’m so looking at you Gianluca Curci) Livorno need to end the; - Will Aldo leave - saga as soon as possible. Preferably by pressuring Aldo to sell the Club already!

I’ll give Aldo some credit for managing to get Livorno a decent amount of Media Exposure over the years, but the man has got to go. He’s clearly given up on his Livorno project (especially after reading those Luciano Moggi Phone call transcripts of his) This President managed to bring Livorno from Serie B to the UEFA Cup, but Livorno have now regressed back to their starting point. That’s just one of the reasons Aldo needs to go. I’ll give him the fact that he always manages to snatch up a good bargain or to unearth a Serie A worthy player from some buttfuck Paese: Bergvold, Pulzetti, Knezevic, M. Amelia, Palladino and Alè Diamanti. Unfortunately, It’s that time, changing of the guard time. His decision making capabilities have digressed throughout the years; His coaching choices (Firing,hiring,timing) were 80% awful and the fact that he never managed to organize the Youth Sides with enough flair to see 1 Primavera player make it to the Senior Squad. It’s time for some new blood, all around the organisation.

Tranfer Rumours:

Diego Tristan has moved to Cyprus, I’m told the hills are beautiful

Marco Amelia’s till drawing interest from Palermo, Athletico and the UK

Alè Diamanti, by far this year’s standout player, has been drawing some interest from all over the peninsula. Sampdoria,Genoa,Napoli,Lazio and Inter are all keen on the left footed Homeless man’s Antonio Cassano. I get the feeling Diamanti has no intention of going down to Serie B. The 25 year old player from Prato has declared today that ‘’ Napoli would be the realisation of a dream!’’

Ciao Alè ! T’was nice knowing you

Diamanti’s not the only Livorno player Napoli have their eye on ; Giovanni Pasquale, who almost went to Napoli during the Winter Window, has all but secured his place in Napoli. Reports suggest that Napoli will pay Livorno around 1.6-1.9 M Euro for the ex-Interista + a 1 year Loan of Erminio Rullo. Nico Pulzetti’s the other player flirting with the San Paolo public. Reports are saying the fling is mutual.

Giancarlo Camolese what do you think about this ?

Pulzetti e Pasquale sono giocatori da Napoli!

Alright, So how are things going for you ?

I just signed a contract with Rapid Bucharest !

What !? You’re replacing Walter Zenga as the Italian of service in Romania?

At 800,000 k a season plus another 300k if we make the Champions I’m moving to Romania !

Ciao Giancarlo !

Finally, Francesco Tavano is moving out. The Tavster sucked it hard all year despite his 10 goals. It seems like Fiorentina are ‘’extremely’’ keen on the striker and have seemingly included Arturo Lupoli as a bargaining chip. Livorno are thrilled by the idea but contrary to Fiorentina’s wishes; They’re looking at a Co-ownership deal and La Viola only want to loan out the youngster. Let’s see how this transpires…

Forza Ragazzi !

The woefully awful trip down to Serie B that was the 2007/08 season was excruciatingly painful to watch. A part from the unexpectedly random prowesssss of a certain Serie C no name and the spectacular Marco Amelia displays this season has been nothing short of dreadful. On and off the pitch the decision-making has been hard to swallow for this Livorno fan. For example, GC Camoles’s back at the helm of the squad until his contract closes out. He’ll be training the squad until the 30th of May. If I see Fernando Orsi or Aldo Spinelli in the street, I will gladly kick them in the nads.

Second off I’d like to say that I’m sorry for neglecting my favourite Amaranto Liberation Army, not Aldo Spinelli neglect but neglect nonetheless. But don’t worry; I’ll gladly keep on rambling about the Livorno Saga with B-list actors. I promise to keep you up to date, but I’ll be returning to neglect shortly for the ext Month or so. I work for the Just For Laughs Festival and the Montreal Fest (BTW, come check out Danny Hoch ! ) is coming soon, and that’ll have me tied up.

But after that, I’ll be more than happy to fill you in regularly on the daily happenings of the Amaranto, I’ll be the muslix of Leghorn!

So much interesting stuff is going to happen:

Where’s Marco Amelia going ? Champions League worthy team ? Palermo ? England ?
Spain ? Costa Rica ?

Will Fausto Rossini return to that Iroquois reserve of his?

Where’s Tavano going Or Who Cares ?

I heard Diego Tristan is headed to Cyprus ?

Are Pulzetti, Pasquale, Grandoni and Galante planning to go ?

Will the fancyness of Serie A entice Alè Diamanti to stay longer a.k.a. How much would he cost ?

Danilevicius is coming back from Grossetto and prolly Giallombardo and that Paulinho dude

Will someone want to poach Martin Bergvold ?

Who’ll be coaching next year ?

Livorno can benefit from relegation. 1st off they need to finalise the Sale or non sale of the team. Then they need to turn to nurturing youngsters, the roster needs a wave of freshness and should start building with youngsters and keep a coach like Camolese that can teach and nurture,à la Diamanti, Marco Amelia, Raffaele Palladino and Giorgio Chiellini. Then they need to move on straight to the infrastructure and start investing in the Primavera and various Youth programs.

One thing’s for sure, Serie B will be an interesting adventure, hoping that it’ll be as shortly lived as possible

In all honesty, I’d be lying if said I’m pissed and surprised, Aldo’s rants and signings had Serie B written all over it since day 1. Anyways, why would Serie A deserve a team with no (infra)structure or Primavera that has produced nothing but indirectly moulding Giorgio Chiellini,Cristiano Lucarelli and Marco Amelia. I’m not saying Livorno will be pulling an Ancona and disappear but Livorno need to work on the company before being a real Serie A worthy team. 150,000 population and the highest unemployment rate(Top 10 for sure) in all of Italy but they still manage to get UEFA cup action and memorable moments. But Aldo fucked it all up, while pocketing enough to leave Livorno without an empty wallet. The only thing that pisses me off about Livorno this year, is that Relegation has Aldo Spinelli-behind the scenes-calciopoli-esque-string-pulling written all over it. It clearly feels like it was wanted or planned or whatever. With Orsi coming back to insure everything would go down (pun intended) as planned! That’s what pisses me off the most !

Fuckin’ Aldo saying at the beginning of the season how this was the most talented team he
had ever put together, maybe if this was the end of the 1990’s Aldo because Diego Tristan is what I would call a has been. 1 goal form the Spaniard, 1 measely fuckin’ goal all season. Francesco Tavano ? What the hell was that ? Replacing Lucarelli, a hometown hero/legend with Tavano!? He’s isn’t even a has been god damn it he’s a never was at all. Oh yeah and backing up this untalented duo with Fausto Rossini and Francesco- I didn’t play a single minute all fuckin’ year – Volpe. Thank God Ale Diamanti pulled some talent out of his ass because we would of looked even worse on the pitch all season.

And now Aldo’s saying how he’ll be starting over with the Lucarelli brothers in Serie B, yeah right Aldo and Irishpeople don’t like potatoes. Stop Lying you fat bastard! Basically I’m pissed and my mind is disorganised and I’m sure you all feel the same way

Forza Ragazzi !

What a frustrating game !!!

The only reason I’m not extremely pissed off right now is because we’re still mathematically in the running towards being Serie A next non-relegated team. Chances are looking crappy but it’s still a possibility! Ok, i know that we have about the same chances of not going down as Italian Parents have of seeing their 29 year old son moving out of the house, but like Yogi Bear would say : I don’t hear no fat lady singing just yet!

How Low can you go !

We had the chance to witness what happens when Marco Amelia plays like a mere mortal and not a goalie with superpowers. But above all,Fernando Orsi managed in 1 game to remind me why I hated him since the very beginning of the season; Tristan from the start ? Then Rossini ? What the hell ? Diamonds aren’t only a girl’s best friend Nando !!! How about having some balls their Nando ? Diamanti’s on freakin’ fire and you chose to play Tristan,Tavano and Rossini before the Diamond in the rough !? Ma chè Cazzo !

Orsi has managed to pick up…let me see…2 points all year TWO DAMN IT! GC Camolese managed to win 1 game at least ; Hell ! he even beat AC Milan and managed to draw Roma twice! How can you go from conceding 1 goal in Roma, to let 3 goals in against a bored/experimental Atalanta squad ? ( I mean Atalanta doesn’t even have an Offside Blog! How less credible can a club get?) Aldo Spinelli might as well bring back Camolese for the next 2 games, because he looks like he’s doing everything on purpose to see Livorno go down. Aldo ! A team in Serie B is harder to sell than a Serie A squad you yellow raincoat wearing lunatic !

Lowlights, but 20 Euros GRATIS! :

MARCATORI: Doni (A) al 12′ s.t., Ferreira Pinto (A) al 15′ s.t., Rossini (L) al 20′ s.t., Pavan (L) al 38′ s.t., Padoin (A) al 44′ s.t..
ATALANTA (4-4-1-1): Coppola; Rivalta, Talamonti (23′ st Pellegrino), Manfredini, Bellini; Ferreira Pinto, Tissone (32′ st Bonaventura sv), Guarente, Padoin; Doni (16′ st Marconi); Floccari. (Ivan, Belleri, Paolucci, Fissore). All. Del Neri

NOTE: spettatori 6.500. Ammoniti: Pavan, Knezevic, Pasquale e Guarente per gioco falloso, Bellini per fallo di mano. Angoli: 3-2 per il Livorno Recupero: 1′ e 4′

Frustrating! Frustrating! Frustrating!

GC Camolese somehow got the best out of this restrictive (to say the least) roster of players. Unfortunately, Fernando Orsi thinks Tavano and Tristan are the players they once were.

Tavano : It’s so frustrating to see Francesco Tavano suck it hard week in and week out.
I won’t give him more than 23 words.

Bogdani : Where the hell is Bogdani ? I’m checkin’ on Mapquest (ok, google Maps) and I’m only finding

Tristan ; My mourning of Super Depor Diegol Tristan ‘s career ended 2 weeks after his goal against Roma.

Filippini : Both of them, they try so freakin’ hard and they always leave it all on the pitch at the end of each and every game, but they both lack the height, pace and overall talent. These 2 would be gods in Serie B/C but they don’t cut it when it comes to performing in Serie A.

Loviso : Common ! Ex-Italia U-21 my ass !

Rossini : please don’t get me started on this guy! He’s a scrapper I’ll give him that, he gives his all and works hard. But saying he has limited talent is more of an understatement than saying that Dane Cook sucks or Mary-Kate Olsen is talented and thin. This Algonquin looking striker needs to be a 5th option at best !

Grandoni : Good defender, decent player and stupid decision maker.

Pasquale : I’m pissed because this Champions League-experienced-versatile-Inter Homegrown- Back is one of the few players you can have some expectations from. He didn’t deliver all freakin’ season long.

Bergvold, Amelia, Knezevic, Galante, Daniele - Rosso Directo - De Vezze, Pulzetti, Bogdani, Giannichedda and Diamanti are the only players that could be useful to a Serie A team.Thank god we have 2 players going to Euro 2008 because if you round up all of the names on the roster and say them out loud, it sounds a lot like a midtable Serie B team. Come to think of it ….

Forza Ragazzi ! 6 punti porco dio ! 6 punti Cazzo !

*this photo pretty much sums up our Serie A situation

So it doesn’t get more meaningful than this. Livorno need to head into Bergamo with a knife in their teeth and all cylinders going. This game is THE game of the season, until next week of course. But Livorno need to take 3 points against a nothing-left-to-win-or-lose Atalanta squad. Who cares about Fernando Orsi being the coach, Aldo’s crazyness and Marco Amelia’s health it’s all about survival right now. Stick the team bus infront of the nets and hope that Alè Diamanti’s lethal left foot strikes again !

Forza Ragazzi !

Probable Formations

Atalanta

(4-4-1-1):
Coppola,
Fissore, Talamonti, Manfredini, Bellini,
Ferreira Pinto, Tissone, Guarente, Padoin,
Doni,
Floccari

Livorno

(3-5-2):
Amelia,
Knezevic, Pavan, Grandoni,
Balleri, Pulzetti, Bergvold, A. Filippini, Pasquale,
Diamanti, Tavano

This what Happened last time

Prediction : 2-1 Livorno

Atalanta’ll get one but Diamanti and Tavano will bring back 3 points to the Picchi. They have to, they need to !
Forza Amaranto !

Fernando Orsi returns to the exact same situation that saw him lose his job earlier this season; a last placed Livorno Squad. The Burgundy Boys had a nice stretch under GC Camolese ; Picking up 2 points against Roma and 3 against Milan. Not to mention the surprise draws versus Udinese and Inter. But what could be asked from GC Camolese. With the type of talent he had to his disposal, I feel that GC Camolese made the most of his opportunity. He managed to turn around the team’s play earlier this season by changing the training regimen and experimenting with different types of formations. Had he been in place from day 1, things would have been different I’m sure. We can always argue that GC Camolese was hyper defensive and relied way too heavily on the defensive aspects of the game. He even managed to field 5 CB for a couple of games, bringing back Helenio Herrera’s heritage to Serie A.

But isn’t the defensive aspect the most important when your team is called Livorno? With the non-depth provided by Aldo Spinelli during the summer, replacing Stefano Morrone and C. Lucarelli with Vikash Dhorasso, Diego Tristan and Francesco Tavano isn’t exactly the best investments you can find. At least he managed to find Diamanti, but it seems like GC Camolese found out how to use the youngster too late in the season. Diamanti’ll be great in Serie B next year, and has probably already showed enough to stay in Serie A, let’s hope he does it with Livorno.

But to Aldo’s defence, Livorno definitely needs some sort of adrenaline shot straight to the heart. In the Post-Maybe-Jesus-was-Born-Today- Season, Livorno have picked up 8 measly points; 1 win, 5 draws and 10 losses. Even though I love the enthusiasm and spirit GC Camolese brought to the Amaranto Liberation Army, 8 points in 16 games kind of sucks donkey dick. 1 point every other game isn’t going to cut it.

So out goes GC Camolese and back comes Fernando Orsi. This, to me, means 2 things. Aldo wants to shake things up, but isn’t willing to open his wallet as much as his mouth. Unfortunately, this is the story of the season. He plucked 3 has-beens from the UEFA’s Most Unwanted player list and thought that was enough to see the team stay in Serie A long enough to cash in on the sale of the team, as well as Lucarelli’s and hopefully, Amelia. These types of decisions are the ones of a man about to walk out on something.

At least, Fernando Orsi gets a half-assed chance to redeem himself to Livorno’s fans with 3 games left and an unhealthy Marco Amelia. ‘Nando Orsi will be able to start over exactly where he left off; last place ;

#1 Atalanta ;

Semi good thing; away game + Atalanta have nothing to lose or win anymore. Good chance at taking 3 here.

#2 Torino

At Home, direct relegation battler, unfortunately Torino’s a better team. Diamanti vs Rosina

#3 Empoli

I’m just hoping that Livorno will be able to come in to this game with everything left to win. If that can happen, I think our chances at salvation are looking good. Nothing like a Tuscan Derby on the last day of the year, especially with the words Relegation and Sudden Death sprinkled on it !

Let’s hope Fernando Orsi can manage what he pulled off Last year. As long as Livorno don’t finish the season like they started it and maybe we’ll be able to enjoy the joys of Serie A for one more season. In the meantime, I just want to witness some exciting hard fought matchs !

Forza Ragazzi, Salviamoci ! !

I didn’t get the chance to see the game, but I’m sure Vincent, who was at the Armando Picchi for this game, will insert some juicy tidbits in the comment thread once he sobers up from the high (or Low) of attending a game in Livorno. Aron also talked about how we got screwed on a couple of occasions by the refs.

4-1 isn’t that great but we all know that Livorno isn’t the best squad at home, especially if Marco Amelia isn’t keeping the nets. Unfortunately, Pippo managed to score a hat trick, bringing his total for the season at 9 goals, 33% of those happened this afternoon god damn it ! They beat us at home and we beat them at home. If you have told me at the beginning of the season that Livorno would take 3 points from AC Milan this year, I would have taken it right away.

We’re back at the bottom of the standings and we now get the chance to appreciate the company of Reggina and Parma in the bottom 3.

We gotta give it our all in the last 3 games, Salvation is still a mathematical probability

Lowlights

1-0

2-0

3-0

4-0

4-1

Forza Ragazzi abbiamo ancora tempo !

*For those of you who don’t know, my Amaranto heart bleeds red and yellow. So this game was excruciatingly painful to watch in many more ways than one. But I, ladies and gentleman, exactly like Marco Amelia, am a true professional. So seeing Marco Amelia get insulted by the Curva Sud was disappointing.

Pardon my canadianism, but unlike the Stanley Cup playoffs (I could have just used the Serie B playoff example!) Serie A is just one big regular season! Roma v. Livorno is as close as you’ll get to the playoff game atmosphere. Both teams are fighting for their season in front of 40,000 full Olympico stadium occupied by crazed Roma fans.The Roman squad’s trying to keep those mathematical scudetto hopes alive, trying desperately to catch up to Inter Plate*, meanwhile the Amaranto Liberation Army is fighting for their lives! Relegation is still mathematically evitable, but the equation contains the numbers Roma and Ac Milan. The Salvation Equation is not an easy problem to solve.

*The term Inter Plate, has officially been embraced by me ; Not only for the good old (hacky?) Argentinean reference (Seeing how Inter Buenos Aires is also acceptable) but also because Plate , in Joual French, is an excellent version of the word boring. Moving on…

So what does GC Camolese decide to do? He goes all out; fielding a 5-4-1 formation right from the get go. He even fielded Melara for the 1st time of the year ; Grandoni, Knezevic, Galante, Melara (that’s 4 CBs !) + Giovanni Pasquale. In the meantime, Pulzetti, Bergvold, ½ a Filippini and Daniele De Vezze (DDV is like a DDR with ADD, OCD, some sort of VD and a bad BMR ). With a very lonely Francesco Tavano up front. Livorno’s Defend, kick away, Defend, maybe counter, rely on Marco Amelia’s superpowers and cross your fingers for a miracle in attack and get that dreaded 1 point. Well it paid off ; it was ugly but it worked!

Livorno held the fort well for the 1st half, not conceding and somehow managing to get Francesco Totti out of the game. Unfortunately, 9 minutes into the first half, David Pizarro managed to throw a grenade in the Amaranto Liberation Army’s bunker and Mirko Vucinic finished the job with a creative header to bring Roma to 1-0. GC Camolese then substituted Danish midfielder Bergvold for Alè Diamanti and Massimo Loviso for a Yellow carded DDV. Livorno held on and Alè Diamanti curved in a sensational free kick over the Roman defense to tie the game at 1-1 with only 8 minutes left ! Marco Amelia made Dikembe Mutombo proud, by rejecting the Roman defense on more than one occasion to preserve that precious point. Final whistle 1-1

Highlights ;

ROMA - LIVORNO 1-1

NOTE: giornata di sole, terreno in buone condizioni. Spettatori: 40 mila circa.

Salvation’s still a serious possibility

Forza Ragazzi !

Finally a game Livorno can easily get points from. Roma is one of the crappiest teams in Serie A, and has been for the last couple of years now. The red and yellows have a bunch of no names and has-beens on their squad so Livorno will easily be able to breeze through this one using their awesome fire power, cluster fuck attack and fluidity at going from defense to attack. The solid livornese Midfield will be able to provide our world class attackers with enough useful balls to see us bring back the 3 points from this one and keep our scudetto hopes alive.

Seeing how Roma sucks hard at home, this will the perfect opportunity to get closer to that Scudetto or at least secure that 2nd place that’s so important for the CL and the August time off. Even if their owner is done with this team at the end of the season, that doesn’t mean Roma will want to go down in flames so I expect a hard fought battle. But seeing the difference in talent, especially on paper, I say Livorno has the upper edge and should be coming out of this one with their heads up high and another convincing win to insert in the standings. This game couldn’t have come at a better time for Livorno seeing how they get to meet a crappy team before the oh-so-important final 5 game stretch to the season.

The amazing firepower, world class defence and unique Livorno style of play is no match for the mini minnows that call themselves Roma. It’s no surprise that a little team like Roma doesn’t have the necessary environment to provide their fans with the talent and teams they deserve, but that’s just how it is. I don’t have time to feel bad for the smaller team or to root for the underdog, I’m just not like that.

This is what happened last time :

Look at our world class attacker take that crappy Roman defender to school. Ferrari might be his name, but quickness ain’t part of his game.

I’m pretty sure Roma’s pissed. Those 2 points they didn’t pick up would have helped out in their relegation battle…

Probables :

Roma : no stars or big names on this squad

For more info on Roma, you’re plain out of Luck ! I don’t know about any English sites that cover AS Roma. It’s quite understandable, seriously, who cares about Roma anyways ?
Roma Doni; Cicinho, Mexes, Juan, Tonetto; De Rossi, Pizarro; Taddei, Perrotta, Vucinic; Totti

Livorno : Amelia; Grandoni, Knezevic, Galante; Pulzetti, Vidigal, De Vezze, Bergvold, Pasquale; Diamanti; Rossini

Prediction : 3-1 livorno

I see at least 3 goals from our attackers in this one. With a little magic from the Italian Master himself Francesco Tavano, a rich man’s Francesco Totti .

Forza Livorno !