Was a wild situation too. Parisi saved the ball on the goal-line with his hand a la Suarez, and goalkeeper Vicario (possibly the best in Italy right now) saved both the penalty and the rebound in acrobatic fashion... only for the pen to be called back due to encroaching, which Spezia scored
It was a mad game. Vicario with a triple save for the second game running. Empoli are going to be rich when they sell him and Parisi at the end of the season. I couldn't make out in the highlights if Empoli's second goal came from a Libby shot being deflected or not. Also some match reports said Libby almost got a third deep in injury time. Parisi has copped an automatic 1 match ban, and will sit out the game away at Fiorentina on Monday morning. You'd think Libby will be first in line to start this one. Even if he does well, I can't see him keeping Parisi out of the subsequent match against runaway leaders Napoli. But he might get some minutes which would be a dream come through for a Neapolitan at heart like him.
However, he and another player did let themselves be out muscled down the right wing just before Spezia’s second goal. The final goal was at 93 minutes.
Directly after the kick off, Spezia are caught offside, and Libby is keen to get forward and makes a run from around halfway, gets the ball from his CB (orCM?), cuts inside a player and into the box, but doesn’t find any of the 3 other players in the box or get any venom on the shot. Looks like he was caught in two minds.
When I watched a previous game he had a good incremental creep down the left wing with a series of throw ins that lead to a goal as well.
All in all he’ll have given his manager something to think about, especially with those couple of late runs.
Just been watching back the second half. I’d watched the first live.
From around 60 minutes Empoli have the bulk of the possession and it is a very busy 10 minutes for Cacace. It looks like many attacks are being built through him. He plays one very nice pass to the feet of the striker, puts a good cross in and gets up and down the line. He also completes two or three composed and formidable pieces of defense, winning possession.
70 to 80 equally involved with a shot blazed over off his right after cutting into the box and a good cross hung up at the back post.
This isn’t top of the table stuff, but his body language and those of his teammates around him suggest that this isn’t someone tentative about his presence at this level.
The level of opposition is different, he’s got a lot of space and close control isn’t as required, but really he was one of the players who drove Empoli forward to that result. He played a range of progressive passes and wanted the ball.
The improvement between that performance and earlier more cagey ones is notable. All that was missing to cap it was a direct involvement in a goal for Empoli- but it didn’t seem that far off.
Seesaw first half. Fiorentina with all the early pressure. Empoli hit them on a counter. Then there was a goal each way disallowed for offside. Cacace hasn’t had much to do and certainly not much space to attack. Mostly solid defending, with a couple of tentative moments with the ball in the air.
Empoli lead 1-0, but the game still really in the balance.
Seesaw first half. Fiorentina with all the early pressure. Empoli hit them on a counter. Then there was a goal each way disallowed for offside. Cacace hasn’t had much to do and certainly not much space to attack. Mostly solid defending, with a couple of tentative moments with the ball in the air.
Empoli lead 1-0, but the game still really in the balance.
Where are you watching this? I had a quick look on Sky and couldn't see it.
Empoli just hanging on. 64:00 Libby picked up a yellow and a few others too. Luperto the CB really seems like an older brother- watching his back, always there for a pass and in this case straight to the ref to plead the case for his opponent to be equally sanctioned after he cops a pay back challenge.
Still a good result, though not quite the epic result it could have been, you feel as they concede, but hang on for the draw. Cacace put in a huge game in defense, but may bear some culpability from the goal as he was unable to stop the cross.
Coach Paolo Zanetti said he wasn't worried performance-wise if Parisi left as Cacace would be a huge part of Empoli's future. Marked him out as a guy who could command a similar large fee down the line
Seesaw first half. Fiorentina with all the early pressure. Empoli hit them on a counter. Then there was a goal each way disallowed for offside. Cacace hasn’t had much to do and certainly not much space to attack. Mostly solid defending, with a couple of tentative moments with the ball in the air.
Empoli lead 1-0, but the game still really in the balance.
Where are you watching this? I had a quick look on Sky and couldn't see it.
Sky customers can access Bein Sport's streaming platform. There are tons of games shown there that are not on Sky. This is a link to the replay.
Seesaw first half. Fiorentina with all the early pressure. Empoli hit them on a counter. Then there was a goal each way disallowed for offside. Cacace hasn’t had much to do and certainly not much space to attack. Mostly solid defending, with a couple of tentative moments with the ball in the air.
Empoli lead 1-0, but the game still really in the balance.
Where are you watching this? I had a quick look on Sky and couldn't see it.
Sorry I’m living in Japan with access from a subscription app here- hence why I started putting in description as it seemed as though the coverage was missing based on some comments.
Coach Paolo Zanetti said he wasn't worried performance-wise if Parisi left as Cacace would be a huge part of Empoli's future. Marked him out as a guy who could command a similar large fee down the line
From Flying Kiwis.
Paolo Zanetti, Empoli manager: “Cacace has already performed well last week, he's a player we're betting on. Parisi won't stay with us forever. Cacace is certainly part of Empoli's future. He's an important player who will demonstrate his value.”
Up Next: Home against Napoli on Sunday at 6am (NZT)
Looks like a full house at the Carlo Castellani. Empoli have two injuries and a suspended player so their bench won't be as good as usual. More chances for Libby you would think. Though of course Parisi just had a week off so he should be in peak physical condition.
Empoli (12th) host runaway Serie A leaders Napoli (15 pts clear of Inter in 2nd). They will be getting up in Petone for this one, though Libby will likely be back on the bench.
I think they're 18 points ahead of their nearest rival and they seem to have it in the bag. Their coach Luciano Spalletti is famous for always coming second but I can't see how they can lose the title at this stage. More importantly, Empoli are looking at a mid table finish so hopefully game time for Libby increases as he gets given more responsibility (coach Zanetti has said he's one for the future). I hope once they are mathematically safe, they will rest Parisi more as if he gets injured he won't command nearly as much of a transfer fee as he would otherwise.
With Empoli looking safe from relegation, and Libby barely playing this season, you'd also hope is no problem him coming back to NZ in March for the China friendlies. That's remembering Hay saying the Italian clubs he found a bit difficult to deal with the release of players for the AWs.
Perhaps that was because Hay’s bombastic nature hurt the sensibilities of the very even tempered nature of the Italians.coochiee
With Empoli looking safe from relegation, and Libby barely playing this season, you'd also hope is no problem him coming back to NZ in March for the China friendlies. That's remembering Hay saying the Italian clubs he found a bit difficult to deal with the release of players for the AWs.
Perhaps that was because Hay’s bombastic nature hurt the sensibilities of the very even tempered nature of the Italians.coochiee
With Empoli looking safe from relegation, and Libby barely playing this season, you'd also hope is no problem him coming back to NZ in March for the China friendlies. That's remembering Hay saying the Italian clubs he found a bit difficult to deal with the release of players for the AWs.
Cacace was there and started both games against Australia in September, so I can't see any reason why the circumstances would be different on Empoli's end. The only window the Italian based contingent haven't been there for was in January 2022, which wasn't a normally scheduled window - given Serie C played through windows anyway, they probably negotiated Kirwan to stay which wasn't a big issue as it just allowed experimentation such as Tuiloma at right-back. Garbett was negotiated to stay then so that he would subsequently be available for all the qualifiers in March, even before the window. Cacace was still in Belgium at that time as well, which explains his absence as the Pro League played through.
I'm just going off what Hay said at the time. Note that yes both Kirwan & Cacace were there for the March OFC tourney last year. But neither started the final against the Solomons, it was Payne & De Vries as the starting wing backs.
Kirwan got 20 mins off the pine, and Libby was an unused sub. Did Hay do that to appease their club managers, with an eye to the big playoff game ahead, and getting players into camp early?? Cacace & Kirwan were the starting fullbacks against CR in the playoff. Kirwan missing Padova's Serie C playoff run.
Managing the whole club vs country stuff is the big part of the workload of any international manager, especially around international friendlies, that clubs can just find a meaningless irritant. We would in reality have no idea, what conversations are being held out of Albany with various overseas clubs. But Libby should be one champing at the bit to come home in March. His first AWs appearance in his home town back at the ROF a real attraction.
I'm just going off what Hay said at the time. Note that yes both Kirwan & Cacace were there for the March OFC tourney last year. But neither started the final against the Solomons, it was Payne & De Vries as the starting wing backs.
Kirwan got 20 mins off the pine, and Libby was an unused sub. Did Hay do that to appease their club managers, with an eye to the big playoff game ahead, and getting players into camp early?? Cacace & Kirwan were the starting fullbacks against CR in the playoff. Kirwan missing Padova's Serie C playoff run.
Managing the whole club vs country stuff is the big part of the workload of any international manager, especially around international friendlies, that clubs can just find a meaningless irritant. We would in reality have no idea, what conversations are being held out of Albany with various overseas clubs. But Libby should be one champing at the bit to come home in March. His first AWs appearance in his home town back at the ROF a real attraction.
Cacace was booked against Tahiti in the semifinal, so another yellow against the Solomons would have him suspended for Costa Rica. Made sense to leave him out, it's the same reason Reid didn't start either. I doubt there was anything nefarious. It's also likely Kirwan was just rested after a short turnaround, it was the Solomon Islands after all and Tim Payne was hardly going to be over-awed by them.
All's well that ends well, and so far the Italian-based players have been there bar one makeshift window. If there is some apprehension by the clubs, it's certainly not endemic to the Italians, as we've seen Nelsen, Wood and Thomas skip a few games to fly back early to England and the Netherlands.
Had a few minutes the other day and I watched the game from when Libby came in. He did really well. Got a couple of nice passes, won a header, covered well (in a 1 vs 2 counter attack) and got himself into some good positions as Empoli tried their best to force an equaliser. They came quite close but either the Monza keeper made a save, or one of their players got their body on the line. Good to see him try to make an impact. Hopefully his game time increases as we near the end of the season.
Heh, didn’t watch that because I thought it wasn’t enough time. He got twenty odd minutes against Udinese.
Won a couple of corners with his crossing, and put in 4-5 good crosses of different varieties. Empoli mostly attacked down his wing and he got forward and right to the touch line. Also nearly got involved in a late counter, but got reeled in by the defender. Udinese time wasted something wicked. Empoli weren’t quite convincing and they couldn’t find the punch for the equaliser.
Didn’t seem to try to dribble or get in the box much this game so I guess following instructions?
Yes Empoli (14th - 10 pts above the drop zone) lose 0-1 to Udinese (9th). Good to see Cacace getting more mins through the season. Maybe Empoli know Parisi is definitely off at season end.
Parisi will definitely depart at the end of the season, along with GK Vicario. So it's good to see Libby getting a bit more game time. I had the impression that he lacked a bit of confidence, which is to be expected as he hasn't actually had that many minutes since arriving in Italy
But maybe, just maybe, we’re starting to see the Cacace Renaissance... perhaps not coincidentally in the same week that Parisi’s agent popped up saying that this will be Parisi’s last season before he moves to a big club. Manager Paolo Zanetti has already talked about Cacace as the future despite using him so sparingly (until recently).
