Eleven Is The Loneliest Number

By: robert | February 16th, 2008

Inter(2)-Livorno(0)

Seems as if Livorno’s Hyde came out today instead of their Jaclyn. And damn, what a relief that was. I was extremely fearful of Livorno coming out, fire and all, and turning the game into a modern day Colosseum. Ya’ know, bodies flying all over the place, even the Big Boss getting into it, and next thing you know Este is down on the ground, his leg lying next to him. That’s why yesterday, I asked all of you to pray for a nice and smooth game. It seems as if you guys must of listened, because that’s just what we got.

Right from the start, I could tell that Livorno didn’t have that fire that we all feared. What was even better, was us getting on the score sheet nice and early. A Christian Chivu free kick found Davey’s head in the 14th minute, and the ball just started rolling from there. Then 3 minutes later, Davey put yet another dagger into the hearts of lowly Livorno. Max took on Nico Pulzetti (abused) down the left and his cross bounced around in the box, and next thing you know, Davey made it 2-0. From then on, we just kept simple possession and took our foot off the pedal.(Just like I said they should.)

Inter’s two goals were scored in the fashion that I predicted in my match preview. (I’m not saying I told you so, or anything like that.) We weren’t going to beat Amelia from deep, so the only option was score from inside the box. Suazo must of read my post, because he was causing trouble inside the 18 all day long. Bravo. Crespo and Este should of made it 3 and 4 nil, but they fudged it up bad. Besides that, there was a well struck (extreme understatement) Diamanti free-kick that beat JTCG, but not the post. Oh, and Julio The Cat made a Spider-Man like save on a Vidigal header. Just another day in the life of JTCG.

Goal Scorers:

Inter:

Davey (14)
Davey (18)

Cards:

Livorno:

David Balleri (45)(Y)
Nico Pulzetti (54)(Y)

Substitutions:

Inter:

Maniche for Dejan Stankovic (68)
Luis Figo for Maicon (73)
Marco Materazzi for Hernán Crespo (85)

Livorno:

Tommaso Vailatti for Nico Pulzetti (68)
Fausto Rossini for David Balleri (71)
Filippini A. for Daniele De Vezze (80)

Player Ratings:

Julio The Cat Gaffney: 7.5- He made four saves from four shots, can’t get much better than that. Fine, he was beat on that free-kick, but he made up for it by robbing Vidigal. Damn that was nasty.

Maicon: 7.5- Holy shit. That basically describes his day. He was unstoppable going forward, and that’s when he’s at his best. The only reason why he didn’t get an 8 was because of his so-so crossing. Same with his buddy Max.

Burdisso: 7- Am I dreaming? I must be, because I thought I saw, nah no way. Did I actually see Burdisso on the field for his second straight game, that’s got to be some sort of personal record. Not only was he on the field, he also played really well. Very strong in the back, especially in the air. Now that’s what I like to see ‘Disso.

Chivu: 7.5- Shit last game, great this game. Think the Big Boos gets the idea that center mid isn’t Chivu’s position? Yeah, so do I. Him and ‘Disso were a real force. Also, he added a nice touch of skill and calmness to The Bull’s, well, Bullness. (Yep, another nickname. This ones for ‘Disso, TB for short.)

Max: 7.5- The Wing Back Buddies (Wow, another one, I’m just on a role. Use that when describing both Maicon and Max, or our wing backs in general. You’re going to need a manual soon. WBB for short.) basically had the same type of game. Unstoppable when they went up, and terrific when they came back. Only downside, crossing.

Il Capitano : 6- Laid back in the shadows. Don’t worry though, he’s just waiting for Tuesday to strike.

Cambiasso: 9.5- This earns yet another holy shit. No, this deserves a, I just shit my pants. Yeah, that sounds on point. I don’t think he ever lost the ball, or control of the middle for that matter. I criticized him last week for not playing as well as he had been, and I’m sorry. Easily the best player on the picth. I hope he packs this type of play with him when he travels to Ainfield.

Pele: 5.5- Nothing special. Had some good minutes and some bad ones. He can play better, much better. We’ve seen it done.

Stankovic: 5.5- For a short period of time, I almost forgot that he was on the pitch. That’s not good. Much like Pele, he had his good and bad times. However, I expect much more from Stank.

Crespo: 5- made a few runs here and there, and that’s it. With Suazo really picking up his play, and TSB and The Great One’s spots already locked in, it seems as if he just moved way down on the Big Bosses list. Don’t expect to see him on Tuesday.

Suazo: 8.5- Without being to overzealous, I so called this shit. I gave him credit for last weeks win, and I said he was going to have a good game. Davey put two quick ones away, and saved Inter the trouble of actually playing. He left the Livorno defense with one of two symptoms, a) motion sickness or b) dislocated ankles. Some got a little bit of both.

Maniche: 5.5- Another Meh for Maniche. He has yet to do anything to impress me.

Portuguese Pleasure,PP: 8.5- It was great to see him again in that black and blue shirt. Plus, he juggled past some guy on his first touch. (I heard the guy retired after that.) Word on the street is that after the game Figo got a call from momma bear telling him to play nice with the other children. He later apologized to the guy. (I’m referring to the guy as the guy, because I’m not sure who Figo shit on.)

Analysis:

No controversy, at all. So what’s everyone going to cry about now? I’ve think we’ve taken enough shit from people, and deserve a simple, “You’re just better than the rest of Serie A.” (Props to Marco over at the Livorno blog for admitting that.)

With that out of the way, let’s take a look at the positives of this game. We won, no injuries, and we didn’t have to do an excessive amount of running. Now let’s look at the negatives, there are none. Remember yesterday when I described my dream match, well this was it. Now we head into the biggest game of the year, with a win and no controversy. Can’t ask for much more than that.

P.S.- Add the final score to the group of things that I called. (I’m not boasting. Fine, a little. Get over it.)

Oh yeah, there’s always next year Roma. (Nice lineup Spalletti. Tactical genius, ha, fuck that shit.)