Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'spag bol'.
-
Bologna (H) - CL League Stage, Wed 2nd Oct 2024 (8:00pm)
Trumo posted a topic in FF - Football Forum
Our first home match of the revamped Champions League see us take on a side we know very little about. Bologna were once one of the leading lights in Serie A, and last won the championship in 1964. Since then, they've flitted between mid-table in the top flight and several spells outside. Last season was their finest season in years as they finished 5th, ahead of the two Rome clubs no less. They are looking to renovate their picturesque Stadio Renato Dall'Ara so the income boost provided by a minimum of 8 Champions League games is a real bonus. As is generally the case with Italian clubs, such developments will heavily involve the local municipality having to foot (most of) the bill, which leads to endless talks and red tape. Juventus built a new stadium, and both Atalanta and Udinese have significantly redeveloped their stadiums, but Serie A stadiums are otherwise extremely dated. Even the big cathedrals like the San Siro, the Olimpico and the San Paolo (now named Diego Armando Maradona) are very much lipstick on a pig. They've had a very patchy season so far. Having lost highly-rated coach Thiago Motta to Juventus, and having sold key players Calafiori and Zirkzee to Arsenal and United respectively, they've had to do a rebuild. They've also been without captain Lewis Ferguson, whose knee injury back in April kept him out of Scotland's Euro 2024 squad. They've signed Swiss midfielder Freuler permanently from Forest (who knows Serie A well from his time at Atalanta), and brought in Dutch striker Dallinga from Toulouse. We know all about him as he proved to be a real pest for us in last season's Europa League group stage. Bologna started their Champions League adventure with a goalless draw at home to Shakhtar Donetsk. For us, we have 3 points on the board after the opening win in Milan, so this is a chance to give ourselves a real footing in the table prior to our next four games against Bundesliga and La Liga sides. Harvey will still be unavailable, and Robbo will be assessed having come off with a knock late on in the win at Wolves. I would expect that Slot will go with a similar line-up to the one that faced West Ham in the League Cup. Whatever the side that is put out, it badly needs to ditch the inkling of complacency and poor concentration that characterised the performance at Wolves. We also mustn't take Bologna for granted, as even though new coach Vincenzo Italiano doesn't have the settled system and experience of Gian Piero Gasperini at Atalanta, he has shown that he can get results in Europe with a mid-table outfit. Italiano was Fiorentina coach for the previous 3 seasons and they were Conference League runners-up twice. How have our previous managers got on in their first game against Bologna? Well, for both Slot and the club this will be a first as we've never played against Bologna before, not even in a friendly. I don't ask for much. Maximum motivation, control, application, attitude and concentration from minute one. 3 points please. Get it done!