[Northwood_DK]

U.S.D. Novese
The legacy of Vittorio Pozzo

April 2016

Lots of contracts are about to expire for both staff and players. I renew just a few of them. Looking for a complete rebuild this offseason.

For some reason we only got three games this month.

Against the #18 team in the league at home I decide to gamble and go for a complete reshuffle of the formation. 4-1-2-2-1 asymetric is the result.

@ home vs. Castellazzo Bormida #18
Not a success. We get away with another 1-0 win. The lone goal comes from a penalty.
We have the best defends in the league and have only allowed 20 goals in 33 matches with the second best team 6 goals behind at 26 in 33.
Before next season I need to rebuild the attack and find a formation that works on this level.

Why wait. I made the first move already. Agreed to release striker Denis D'Onofrio on a free transfer. He want garanties for first team football and I am not willing to give him that and we agreed to part ways.
I said goodbye to 13 starts, 3 goals and a 6.82 Rat. I will still be able to sleep at night.

Finally back on the pitch after a two weeks break. Back to the old formation.
I bench Antonio Granata. He is a Napoli loan player and will probably not be back next season so i replace him with our own Antonio Silvestri to give him some valuable first team football.

@ F.C. Vado #10
Denys Zhytarchuk scores after 10 minutes. Its his first goal in five games.
We are embarrassed after 25 minutes when F.C. Vado scores on a free kick when we completely forget to cover and only looks at the ball
Not much more to report. The game ends 1-1.
We loss 20 year old MC Vincenzo Perna for the rest of the season. He will be out 2 months with a damaged knee.

All the way at the top of Italian football, Juventus takes home the title with three games to go. It's their 5th Scudetto in a row.
We are coming for you !!!

@ Acqui U.S. #20
Acqui U.S. might be the worst team in the league but they are also our biggest rival .
It starts after 14 minutes when we take the lead on a goal from Matias Antonini Lui.
He adds a second and his 5th of the season a few minutes later on another great cross.
Then Denys Zhytarchuk gets inn on the action and finally DR Massimo Lucarelli.
All before the break. We have played the perfect half*.
The second half is a letdown.
No more scores and we go home with a 4-0 win against our bitter rivals.
Lucarelli is MoM and one of three player with a rating over 9.0.

*it turns out that I at some point have messed around with the tactics and have lost all the player instructions. Pretty sure that's why we have struggled with possession in the last few games.
Stupid mistake by me.