In our weekly feature, here on Italian Football Daily, we take a look at the weekend performances of Italian players currently based in the top two divisions in England.
ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Matteo Darmian (Manchester United)
Darmian was not selected by Louis Van Gaal as Manchester United hosted Manchester City in the Manchester derby. Following several shaky performances from Darmian, the United manager preferred Antonio Valencia to the former Torino man in the starting line-up. Darmian did however see ten minutes of action as he came on for the injured Valencia with 11 minutes of the match remaining, and helped the home team to keep a clean sheet in a tactical 0-0 draw.
Graziano Pelle (Southampton)
Pelle was unable to add to his tally of 7 Southampton goals this season in Southampton’s 1-1 draw away to Liverpool. The Azzurri striker had a relatively quiet game by recent standards, but was a constant threat throughout the match.
Fabio Borini & Vito Mannone (Sunderland)
Sunderland took on local rivals, Newcastle, in the Tyne Wear derby on Sunday. Borini missed the match with a foot injury which looks likely to keep him out of action for several weeks, as the Mackems ran out easy 3-0 winners.
Mannone was an unused substitute in this fixture.
Angelo Ogbonna (West Ham United)
Despite returning from a hamstring injury over a week ago, Ogbonna was not selected in West Ham United’s starting line-up for their home match against Chelsea. He did however make a late substitute appearance as West Ham faced a late onslaught from the Premier League champions. Ogbonna helped The Hammers hold on to their 2-1 lead, as they briefly moved up to second place in the Premier League.
Alessandro Diamanti (Watford)
Diamanti was an unused substitute in Watford’s 2-0 win away to Stoke City.
ENGLISH CHAMPIONSHIP
Fernando Forestieri (Sheffield Wednesday)
Fernando Forestieri continued his excellent form in Sheffield Wednesday’s 2-1 win away to Rotherham United on Friday evening. The former Italy Under-21 striker provided the assist for Wednesday’s first goal as he again combined with striking partner, Lucas Joao, and then scored Wednesday’s second by capitalising on a goalkeeping error. Forestieri’s link up play and movement off the ball received numerous plaudits in the English press, as he created several excellent chances that his teammates squandered. His contribution has been the key behind Wednesday’s performances and results this season.
Diego Fabbrini (on loan from Watford) & Michael Agazzi (Middlesbrough)
Middlesbrough travelled to Wolverhampton Wanderers, as they looked to find some form after several poor results in the Championship. Fabbrini played the whole match and scored an excellent 20 yard equaliser which was the catalyst for ‘Boro to come back from 1-0 down and run out 3-1 winners. The goal was Fabbrini’s fourth in the league this season and saw Boro move up to fourth place in the table.
Once again, Agazzi did not feature in Middlesbrough’s squad for this fixture.
Mirco Antenucci, Giuseppe Bellusci, Marco Silvestri & Tommaso Bianchi (Leeds United)
In their second game under new manager, Steve Evans, Leeds United travelled to Bolton Wanderers. Silvestri and Antenucci started the game, while Bellusci was once again on the substitutes’ bench. Antenucci earned and converted the penalty which gained Leeds a 1-1 draw, although the Yorkshire side will be disappointed to not have taken all 3 points, given their opponents were down to 10-men for the last 20 minutes. Silvestre made a couple of excellent stops, including one fingertip save, to keep Leeds just one goal behind in the minutes before Antenucci equalised.
Bellusci was once again an unused substitute, whilst Bianchi was not selected for the match day squad.
Francesco Pisano (Bolton Wanderers)
Pisano did not make the match day squad for Bolton Wanderers’ home game against Leeds.
Gabriele Angella (Queens Park Rangers – on loan from Watford)
QPR played host to MK Dons as Gabriele Angella did not make the match-day squad. In his absence, QPR ran out comfortable 3-0 winners.
Federico Macheda (Cardiff City)
As has been the case for each league game this season, Macheda did not make Cardiff’s match day squad for the game against Bristol City.
Diego De Girolamo (Sheffield United)
Once again, De Girolamo did not feature in Sheffield United’s match day squad in their 2-1 defeat by Millwall.
The post Italian Players in England: How did they fare this weekend? appeared first on IFD.
from IFD http://ift.tt/1MoOVDw
via IFTTT berita selengkapnya Follow @jadwalliga
