Daily Calcio News and Notes - 11/4/08

By: Francesco | November 4th, 2008

Here’s what I found interesting after reading various calcio news sites today:

-First, we have another managerial change in Serie A. Chievo haven’t won since the first week of the season and manager Beppe Iachini has been sacked. Taking his place will be Domenico Di Carlo, who was in charge of Parma until March of last season. Di Carlo will try to turn the Flying Donkey’s season around.

-Don’t worry Napoli fans, Ezequiel Lavezzi’s agent has stated that Lavezzi is extremely happy at Napoli and won’t be going anywhere else anytime soon, despite the interest from big clubs. He does mention talks about maybe getting him a new contract, but he also states that Lavezzi can play even better than he is playing now. And that is very scary for opposing Serie A defenses.

-Is Carlo Mazzone going to be Roma boss again? Absolutely not. Who says? Mazzone himself. Mazzone said he has never been contacted by Rosella Sensi in recent weeks to possibly take over from Luciano Spalletti, but he is very connected to his native city and beloved giallorossi and hopes they get out of their crisis soon.

-Ex-Lazio and Inter defender Sinisa Mihajlovic is the new boss at Bologna and some fans are a little doubtful about his chances because of his largely empty resume. The Serbian has only worked as an assistant to Roberto Mancini at Inter but he said “I’m not worried about not having experience, did Fabio Capello have any experience when he started coaching?” If he becomes the next Fabio Capello I think Bologna fans will be fairly happy.

-Speaking of Bologna, they may get two reinforcements from Inter (thanks to Mihajlovic’s connections) in January. Inter are set to hand the Rossoblu’ midfielder Olivier Dacourt, and one of Hernan Crespo or Julio Cruz. It will be difficult for Crespo to join because of his high salary, but Julio Cruz is a good option and it would be a return for the Argentine striker, who made his name at Bologna when arriving in Italy.

-Ignored by Carlos Dunga yet again, Amauri has stated which national team he is playing for. The answer? Juventus. The Brazilian striker said at the moment Juventus is his national team and will continue to work hard and score goals.

-Alessandro Nesta keeps getting hit with the injury bug. When it looked like in recent weeks that he was on the road to full recovery, it seems his recurring shoulder problem has hit him yet again. This time Nesta will go to Miami (where he owns a house) and undergo rehab in a clinic there, the same clinic he used in 2006. It looks like we won’t see him on the pitch until January, which is a shame for such a world class defender.

-Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini, always known for his outspokenness, has stated that Roma will not be able to get 4th place. Why? Because there are too many good teams fighting for the spot already. Zamparini says he sees Inter first, Milan and Juve second and third, and Palermo, Fiorentina, Napoli, Lazio, Udinese, and maybe Genoa fighting for the last Champions League place. So no room for Roma according to Zampa…

-Lorenzo De Silvestri, who last season was one of the best young talents in Serie A, hasn’t found much space this season because of the signing of Swiss fullback Stephan Lichtsteiner, who has been one of the most consistent performers in Serie A this season. The 20 year old fullback and Italy U21 regular has only started one game so far, and may go on loan in January to gain valuable playing time. If De Silvestri is put on the market many teams will be interested in his services.

-And finally, Lippi has answered some questions about possible national team call-ups. First on Del Piero, he said Del Piero will stay home for a while since he already knows what kind of player he is and what he can contribute. He says he wants to see new faces at this moment. On Cassano, he was still very vague, just stating “He is like everyone else in Serie A, any player from the age of 18 to 40 can dream of the Nazionale.”