Pogba, Lukaku and company. 2023 of the disappointed by 2022

The World Cup as a stimulus, as a ghost to erase, as a turning point between before and after. The anomalous location of the last World Cup created a watershed for our championship, almost two months of stop between the last image we have, the 3-0 Juventus win over Lazio in mid-November, and the first ones we will have in a January 4th from a post-Christmas football binge, ten games in one day, stuff that seems to come from another era. The spotlights are all on Napoli but there are also those who move in the shadows of a first part of the season that is below expectations, for one reason or another. The moment is propitious to start thinking about the album of the disappointed ones, about those stickers that so far have not given smiles but which could prove to be decisive in the second half of a season so different from the past ones.

Paul Pogba he chased the World Cup without ever really being able to start his run-up: the injury that kept him sidelined for months is also the one that cost him the tournament in Qatar, he who in Russia four and a half years ago was been among the main architects of the French success. Recovery times are still a puzzle, Pogba trains separately in search of a form condition which is starting to worry Allegri and the fans. In his case, the missed World Cup could become fuel for redemption. Difficult, however, to decipher the motivations of Angel Di Maria, transfigured on the bench while watching the supplementary match against France: the player seen in the first 60 minutes of that match would be able to manipulate the Italian championship at will, the hope black and white is that the achievement of a lifelong dream does not end up emptying it mentally.

From Turin to Milan, the step is short. The memory of the World Cup Romelu Lukaku is that of the grotesque mistakes against Croatia, inconceivable for a striker of his level. Painful photographs, which represented the end of an era for Belgium. Simone Inzaghi and Inter have tried to float in these months in which the former Chelsea has tried to leave the injury behind, now he will have to demonstrate that he is able to quickly forget a tournament that risks leaving very heavy waste at the level psychological. It was not so expected in Qatar Charles DeKetelaere, while AC Milan fans continue to wonder if the most expensive purchase of the summer market has actually been achieved or not. And with Giroud fatigued by the World Cup, the Belgian could already find himself in Salerno wearing clothes that he was used to wearing in his experience at Bruges, those of the center forward: Pioli opened on plan B, who knows it might not become the right solution to unlock one seemingly endless stalemate.

The collection of stickers of the disappointed in the first part of the season does not end with the three great historians of our football: Maurizio Sarri has never yet had the best Ciro Immobile due to injuries; José Mourinho can say the same about Tammy Abraham, but without being able to use the alibi of the physical condition. The Englishman felt he had the pass to the World Cup in his pocket and saw it fade in the last sprint, with Southgate publicly expressing his skepticism about the Roma centre-forward’s performance. And if Juve are waiting for Pogba, Mou is still waiting for the man who should have given another weight to the Giallorossi midfield. Gini Wijnaldumwho is missing a couple of weeks for the definitive return to the group.

Using the standings as a foothold, we arrive at Atalanta, surprising in the very first part of the season and then the victim of an obscure evil, in any case a very distant team from the one that amazed a few years ago for its offensive phase. Of the first eight, only Roma scored less than the Gasperini band. The reason can also be found in the physical problems of Duvan Zapata, which has seen its turnover drop since the first Nerazzurri season: from 23 goals to 18, then 15, finally 10. Currently, with only nine appearances to his credit, the taximeter shows only one goal. A roster practically identical to that of Dominic Berardi, plagued by injuries in the year in which he definitively married the black and green cause, putting the number 10 shirt on his shoulders and swearing eternal love to a team that was a loving mother for him and perhaps also a brake on ambitions. Dionisi compared Berardi’s importance in the Sassuolo game to that of Mbappé in France, putting the necessary stakes to avoid easy mockery. But Andrea Pinamonti could also benefit from his return to full form, so far far from his Empoli standards and grappling with the uncomfortable comparison with Scamacca and Raspadori. Many faces, many stickers, a World Cup placed in the middle of a still indecipherable season. Only those who manage to shake off the uncertainties and problems of the first part of the championship will be able to make sense of the coming months.