Livorno back in Serie A ! A Year in Review

By: Marco Stucazzo | June 23rd, 2009

After a heartbreaking drop to Serie B last season Livorno are finally back in Serie A after only one season. Promotion to Serie A for a Livorno fan is like winning the Scudetto for a Roma fan (Hey, it happens almost as often) That second half was the most fun i had watching a football match since the last 5 minutes of Italy – Germany 2006 (Andiam’ a Berlino Beppe !). Tavano’s header off a Diamanti capolavoro to make it 1-0 55 minutes in 1-0!… 7 minutes later…Bergvold’s flying down the left wing on a promising counter and floats a cross in the box that’s clearly going over Danilevicius (and you have 1.3 seconds to think : why the fuck did you do that !? u stupid mutherf…) just to see Diamanti come out of nowhere,enter the cameras view and just smacks in a sweet (ass) right footed volley and make it 2-0 !!! Then some beautiful images of Caracciolo (Mr. Uber Crap) whining and getting more and more frustrated, About 50 carabinieri in riot gear lined up infront of the pissed off Brescia fans (I’m pretty sure i heard them singing the Kaiser Chiefs ; I predict a Riot in unisson) and poor little Taddei, Brescia’s Pisa born craptastic trequartista (OK he’s decent but it’s not my fault he’s from Pisa!), was battling it out like a Vampire Devil in garlic flavoured holy water….then 75 minutes in…Livorno counter…Danilevicius(!) with a nice little side-heel to Bergvold who slaps in a curling left footed shot !!!!… GOL!GOL!GOL! Chi non salta è un Pisano !!! Chi non salta è un Pisano !!! Chi non salta è un Pisano !!! Serie A PorcA la MadoscA ! 15 minutes later the pitch is invaded by 20 000 crazy Livorno fans !!!

Not only is this Promotion extra special seeing how we should have finished first or second in the standings, it’s the fact that we eliminated Brescia, a team trascinata by a Pisano, Riccardo Taddei !, on a year where Pisa get demoted to Serie C !!!

A!?!!?…HAHAHA…A…AHHH ! Chi non salta è un Pisano !!!

The duo of Tavano and Diamanti really pulled off a brilliant season. Their 43 goals were a big part of the fight for promotion. A lot of credit must go to Alfonso De Lucia and the Defese and Leo Acori deserves some praise

Now that Livorno are back in Serie A , meaning a little more pocket money to buy some candy, what do we need to insure salvezza ? :

Defense :

Alfonso De Lucia was solid all season. He can clearly cut it in Serie A and be trsted as the number one GK once more. However, we definetly need a Serie A caliber back up, as was clearly shown during De Lucia’s payoff suspension. Brescia’s Viviano played a hell of a season and deserves some Serie A football.

Romano Perticone and Leo Miglionico formed a more than decent duo in central defense all season long. Not injury prone, solid and reliable what more can you ask? See these Grandoni and Galante guys might be fine as Serie B backups, and that’s saying a lot, but their age has clearly caught up with them. I wouldn’t mind seeing Grandoni stay if he plays a very minimal role but i’d rather go out and spend 2-3 Million on a Serie A caliber CB and give Terranova and Rizza more space to grow(if we manage to keep ‘em). Livorno have been linked to Andrea Ranocchia in the past but it’s highly unlikely that the Labronici will be able to sneak in between Bari and Genoa.

Aleandro Rosi and Riccardo Bonetto covered the flanks consistently well all season long. Bonetto was a bit more dependable but what Rosi adds to the offense almost makes up for his defensive lapses(Both Acori and Ruotolo slotted in Perticone when they wanted more coverage on the flank). I have the feeling Rosi might slot in to Fillipini’s role once in a while in Serie A, if we manage to hang on to him, which shouldn’t be a problem for Roma i think (unless they don’t buy Motta). Bonetto’s size makes him more vulnerable to Serie A offenses than he was in Serie B, he’d be a decent sub, but he hasn’t replaced Giovanni ‘’sub par” Pasquale.

Midfield :

Solid all season long and probably the position with the most depth on the squad. I don’t know if Livorno will be fielding the Christmas three and 4-3-1-2 in Serie A but Loviso, Bergvold, Pulzetti, Candreva hell even the Filipini’s helped out (mind you that was Serie B)

We definetely need a few more for an entire Serie A season, Fabio Zambrella of Brescia comes to mind as a fairly cheap back up.(Livorno were linked in the past and seeing how he singleheadedly eliminated Pisa from Serie B this season, these rumours might pick up) (extra sidenote : How often will you hear an opposing squad’s tifosi chant an oppsoing players name during a crucial match !? The Livorno faithful were singing his name during the game !!! “E la vita, la vita, e la vita è bella, quando segna Zambrella con un colpo di testa, e comincia la festa” ) We so need to sign this dude !

I really hope (understatement warning ; i’d gladly sacrifice the unholy love child of a Pisano and a Laziale for Candreva’s full cartellino) we can hang on to Antonio Candreva, the U21 regular has been an excellent asset all season long. Versatile and has a knack for goals, this kid is a future national stud. Martin Bergvold is more than just a decent mid and an excellent squad player. That tremendous Diamanti volley came off his cross and he finished off Brescia with a sexy slotted in left foot curler to officialize Serie A 2009-2010. Loviso on the other hand definetely has the most talent, but it’s his mindset, consistency and decision making abilities that are lacking. If he finally pulls it together he can return to being as useful to his team as he was for the U21 in the semi-glorious Matteo Brighi days because Serie A won’t be as forgiving as la cadetteria. Nico Pulzetti probably wants to go and probably has the best market value seeing how Palermo and a few clubs were interested in his services last summer and this January too. We could probably cash in him and get replacements for the Filipini twins.

Attack :

Francesco Tavano is Serie B capocannoniere(Let’s not get into the whol : Well-i -hope – so – fuck !? debate just yet)- and Alè Diamanti is officially a star and probably worth between 10-14 M$ now after being purchased from Prato for 7 bags of Tuscan truffles 2 years ago (mind you Aldo won’t be negotiating anymore, he’s stepping down from the Presidency and has offered it to his son, let’s see what transpires(and Aldo is always saying stuff) after the Livornese have woken up from the drunken haze of Serie A promotion (And yes, i’m deliberately writing Serie- A as much as i can)

Tavano and Diamanti are 86% the reason we will be entertaining the likes of Roma,Napoli,Palermo and Sampdoria next season (Woo Hoo!). Serie A will get to see Diamanti’s left foot again and Tavano’s egg breaking. They played well together all season long and one of them always picked up the slack when the other was having an off night. Nothing to say, they are the reason we can aspire to salvezza next season. Hell, imagine these guys without Danilevicius to babysit next year !

Livorno played with a frontman all season long ; Fausto Rossini was half decent , hell he even scored a sick Ibra-Style goal ! But let’s be honest, the only reason Tommy Danilevicius was playing in the playoffs was for him to get some exposure so we can cash in on his crappy ass by shipping him off to the highest\stupidest(because dumbest doesn’t give the full experience) bidder! Tavano and Diamanti couldn’t care less about the Lithuanian looking for the midfielders or Aleandro Rosi (this kid will be amazing, just don’t tell Roma just yet) way before giving a peak at the semi-big Lithuanian non-sensation. I don’t know if the Labronici will still field a 3 man offense next season but Danilevicius is gone and Rossini is a decent 3rd-4th Serie A striker at best. Stefano Okaka Chuka would be an excellent replacement for Danilevicius and Livorno have a decent relationship(or knack for getting points against them and snatching some decent talent) with Roma (Chiellini, Amelia,Tavano and Rosi come to mind) Paulinho will surely be discarded from the squad, probably not Volpe but he’ll be seeing more midfield action i presume

Gaston Cellerino’s boots haven’t been soiled much since January but the big Argie arrival (via Boca Juniors, Via Chile and Via Fuck You Lazio !) has shown glimpses of what he can do and i have this feeling we’ll se more of him next season. Big , quick , can run on the counter and has a decent first touch, (borderline excellent if you consider him a big target man) and seems to have a head on his shoulders, let’s see how Livorno’s coach uses him next season.

Coach :

Leo Acori was canned with 90′ minutes left to go to the Serie B season. Everybody, including Aldo and Acori, knows that Acori wasn’t to blame for anything. He coached well all season long and kept Livorno between 1st and 4th spot for 40 matches. Gennarino Ruotolo instantly instilled a winning mentality and united the group…He also kind of brought them straight to Serie A…

It seems ldo is considering 3 men for the job #1 Mario Beretta #2 Gennarino Ruotolo #3 Walter Mazzari. Of course Aldo Spinelli would love to have Walter at the helms of newly promoted Livorno squad.

Adding a 4 decent Serie A players to the likes of De Lucia, Miglionico, Perticone, Bergvold, Loviso,Candreva, Rosi, Diamanti and Tavano could seriously turn this squad into a force to be reckon with in la lotta per la salvezza.

Did i just hear someone shout Cristiano Lucarelli ?

Forza Labronici !

‘Chi non salta un pisano è”