Empoli-Cagliari: draw without victory, safety is still far away

by Simone CioniEMPOLILet's start from the end, when for the first time in the season the Marathon reserves only whistles for the Azzurri. A protest born from the bad defeat on Tuesday in Coppa Italia, with some ultras who had already made themselves heard upon the arrival of the team bus at the Castellani-Computer Gross Arena, spurring the boys on D'Aversa to give everything to win an important match like the one against Cagliari. And theEmpoli he even tried. With heart and generosity for sure. With that 'ferocity' that a team chasing points should have salvation a little less. At this moment, however, among the numerous absences, players not at the top and many mistakes, Empoli is this and in the end the point is not to be thrown away, given that the standings have remained more or less unchanged.

Of course, victory has been missing for too long and from now until the end of the championship it is normal that the Azzurri will absolutely have to go back to celebrating the three points if they want to save themselves. At the end of a boring match played at a slow pace, after all the stakes were too high to even expect a show. Empoli, who certainly needed a full result more than Cagliari, attacked the match well so much so that in the 7th minute they suffered a colossal opportunity with Cacace, who, freed in the area by a brilliant touch from Esposito, instead of shooting, attempted an unlikely assist in the middle of the area for Kouame, who was marked tightly. As was widely predictable, D'Aversa relied on Sambia wide on the right and Cacace himself in his now traditional offensive version for the suspended Gyasi and Fazzini. Up front Kouame won the ballot with Colombo, but instead of acting centrally he started from the right sector. For a good half hour the Azzurri were in control of the game, but there were no real chances: in the 20th minute Henderson tried from outside, but a defender deflected it into a corner and in the 24th minute Caprile did well to take the ball off Viti's head from a corner by the same Scot. Cagliari, apart from a couple of ideas from Luvumbo, only managed to shoot with a low shot from Piccoli that was harmless for Vasquez.

As the minutes passed, however, even captain Grassi and his teammates lost their initial momentum, effectively always choosing to launch in depth and then attack the second balls. A solution that Cagliari managed without any particular worries. The feeling is that if Esposito doesn't light up between the lines, Empoli will hardly be dangerous. It was him again who sent Sambia to goal in the 53rd minute, but he was caught up and unable to finish. It was clear that Cagliari came to Empoli not to lose, while D'Aversa's team, despite doing more and not conceding anything, did not give the impression of having the strength to go and win it, despite Cacace having another great chance to break the deadlock in the 64th minute, but anticipating Esposito, he hit Caprile in full. With the exit of Kouame due to a knee problem and Esposito, Empoli was no longer dangerous. The race for salvation continues.