Three reasons behind an unexpected purchase.
Raffaele Palladino defined it as “the unexpected blow of the Condor“, despite the CEO of Monza Adriano Galliani has also become famous for this type of operation. When you least expect it, he closes a deal as obvious as it is unexpected, the kind that immediately after the official announcement is said: “But why didn’t anyone think of this before?“
When the duo Berlusconi-Galliani took Monza still in Serie C, we were ready for transfer sessions of only shots by Condor: declining footballers with an illustrious past or profiles to be relaunched. In recent years, everyone has really been brought together at Monza: from Ibrahimovic a Mauro Icardipassing through Radja Nainggolan e Frank Ribery. In the end nothing was done about it, yet all of these were considered plausible. We believed that Monza was so interesting that it stimulated the most glorious players, often considered too big to even be approached. Maybe this is exactly what we like about Monza, the courage to try as if it were a big team despite its history and coat of arms from a provincial reality.
Papu Gómez it is a name that fits into the groove traced. Certainly more accessible, but he is still a world champion who played in the Champions League quarter-finals less than 3 years ago and won the last edition of the Europa League, as well as having a past as an absolute protagonist in Serie A. It is a name that makes fans dream and sells t-shirts, but not only that. A footballer arrives in Monza who serves in the time where it is needed. We wouldn’t be talking about Galliani otherwise.
Adriano Galliani all’U-Power Stadium (via Sky Sport)
Environment
Monza is going through a strange period, in which the results arrive but they don’t seem to be there, they don’t weigh enough. Palladino’s team is coming off a crazy and unpredictable championship, finishing four points behind Fiorentina, who started with very different ambitions.
Monza is currently fifteenth, with six points from six games and just one victory against Empoli. If we look at the teams faced, including Inter, Atalanta and Lazio, it cannot be defined as a bad start, yet the perception is that of a team that has lost something. Palladino himself said it after Bologna: “We have to get everyone up a bit the level“.
In situations like these, comparison with the past becomes harmful: we have in mind the team that beats Juventus twice, scores four points with Inter, wins at home against Napoli, champions of Italy, and like us also the players themselves. After reaching a goal it is always difficult to start from scratch. You search for the emotions you felt, but those are no longer there.
The entire Monza environment needed a shock, new stimuli. The team, still far from its ideal condition; the fans, to put aside last year’s feat and find new enthusiasm. The purchase of Gómez is the stimulus he needed, and the fact that he arrived six days before the start of the championship helps to draw a line; At the end of the season we will be able to distinguish a Monza AP and a Monza DPone before and one after the arrival of Papuhoping that the second can really be a chapter with more compelling rhythms and plot.
The Curva Davide Pieri (via Monza-News)
Need
Palladino usually lines up with the 3-4-2-1. The attacking actions develop mostly on the external lanes, thanks to the combinations between the defense arms, which disengage if necessary, the two full-back full-backs and their respective attacking midfielders. The latter basically occupy the non-positions: they have the ability to move freely on the offensive front, but also to shorten and offer a simpler path to the two midfielders. It is the most delicate role of the entire system.
This season Monza seemed to have identified the two starting attacking midfielders Caprari e Colpani, with the second more responsible and at the center of the maneuver. In the match against Lecce however, Gianluca Caprari suffered a cruciate ligament injury in his right knee and will be forced to remain in the pits for several months, leaving a void that will be difficult to fill.
Palladino has so far been a buffer by proposing in that role Danny Motaa striker with skills more as a second striker than as an attacking midfielder. The interpretation compared to Caprari is completely different: the Portuguese fails inside the pitch, preferring to attack the depth and occupy the penalty area to collect crosses coming from the right without the sufficient efficiency in finishing that would be required of him in this case.
Despite Dany Mota and the presence of interesting young people like Carboni and Vignato, Palladino felt it was necessary to have a player similar to Caprari in his squad. In this way the technical void is filled and an alternative is gained, using Mota as a weapon in the ongoing game or a possible plan B. The free agent market was an immediate opportunity and Gómez is exactly what Monza was looking for. Why leave it there?
Gianluca Caprari (via Calcio in Pillole)
Soccer player
The last reason concerns the player in se e per se. Why own il Papu? An answer as cynical as it is true is that Gómez was the only real opportunity available. The traditional market has been closed for weeks now, and waiting for January, especially after such an uncertain start, would have been too great a risk.
However, beyond the immediate necessity, Alejandro Gómez is truly the right player for Monza. Point 1: we know how much Gasperini valued the Papu in his period at Atalanta and how much Palladino drew from the principles of the coach from Grugliasco to formulate those of his footballing philosophy. Point 2: Monza has always lacked individual unpredictability. The team plays association football and creates numerous scoring opportunities, but cannot count on imaginative players with personal and extemporaneous solutions, excluding Colpani and the injured Caprari.
Speaking of unpredictability.
The role most suited to his characteristics is the left attacking midfielder, but at 35 it becomes very important to preserve him. Gómez will probably play closer to the center forward in the non-possession phase, free from defensive tasks, while in the setting phase Palladino could take advantage of his technical and dribbling ability by lowering him close to the midfielders. In Monza he will return to that role hitch which he performed masterfully at Atalanta in 2019/20a link between the midfield and the attack, personified by an offensive player who bends down to receive the ball and start the action in the opponent’s half of the pitch. More simply, Gomez would become pure freedom of movementradicalizing the role of the non-positional attacking midfielder in Palladino’s game.
The entry into the starting eleven of the Papu it would also bring about a change in Colpani’s playing style. The midfielder from Brescia will have to sacrifice himself in the defensive phase, but will be able to stand up more when his team controls the ball, thus avoiding the first build-up. A more advanced Colpani is a more dangerous Colpani, even at the cost of touching fewer balls.
The rest is done by the person, even before the player. The key factor to the adventure of Papu in Brianza, excluding physical condition, it is motivation. After great team successes, such as the victories of the World Cup and the Europa League, Gómez wants to return to being a protagonist. Perhaps he too was looking for a jolt, a grand finale to an extraordinary career. Now Palladino awaits him with open arms, thanking the Condorwho once again thought of it before anyone else.
2023-09-30 09:30:33
#Papu #Gomez #Monza #choose
