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Tanel · 28-12-06, 09:59 PM

Torino - Cagliari

29th of October 2006
Stadio Olimpico, Turin
Italian Serie A 2006/2007 - Week 10

1'

Cedric Konan, 39'

Elvis Abbruscato, 45+1'

Elvis Abbruscato - 83'

Arthuro

Torino had an easy victory againist Cagliari at home as Cedric Konan opened the scoring after just 50 seconds and Elvis Abbruscato headed in two goals againist ex-Juventus goalkeeper Antonio Chimenti.

Stefano Fiore, Andre Zuba, Simone Barone and Marco Di Loreto all missed the matches as Ivan Franceschini and Diego De Ascentis got starts againist the 13th club of the league.

The opener was quick to come, Gianluca Comotto dribbled past two players and passed it to Alessandro Rosina who then fowarded it to Cedric Konan. The Ivorian striker tricked one Cagliari player before sending it into low corner for his first goal since the Coppa Italia tie againist Ivrea in the middle of August.

Konan first ever Torino league goal

After quarter hour Raffaele Schiavi's header got cleared on the line and Nikola Lazetic shoot over soon after from great position.

In the 27th minute Torino almost scored a hillarious goal, Gianluca Comotto's cross was misjudged by Antonio Chimenti, ex-Juventus player in Cagliari goal, but the ball rattled againist the crossbar as the net was empty.

Then Roberto Stellone had an icredible miss as instead of scoring into the empty net he decided to try shoot it into the far post, but his plan probably didn't include goalkeeper Chimenti being there.

Nikola Lazetic got his 6th assist of the season when he crossed in from fourty meters to Elvis Abbruscato who made a fantastic header that flew into the low corner to make it 2:0. The remarkable header was taken fifteen meters from goal.

Torino made the game almost sure when Giuseppe Pancaro dribbled past three players on the right wing to cross in for Abbruscato's second of the day and 6th overall of league season.

Abbruscato sends the ball into far post

Cagliari got their first shot of the evening ten minutes after the half-time break, but Semedo's long range shot few miles over the Cristiano Lupatelli net.

Gianluca Comotto almost scored Torino's 4th, but his break in to the Cagliari box ended up with his shot flying just wide the far post.

Soon after Roberto Stellone's tried to shoot with his first touch between two Cagliari defenders, but the curling effort flew past the net from twenty meters.

In the second half Masashi Oguro came in for the yet again disappointing Stellone, but it didn't change much.

Lupatelli had to make a fantastic save to keep out Kamago header and Konan shot wide of Chimenti goal.

Though Lupatelli couldn't produce a save on the 83rd minute, when he really should have. Arthuro's shot went into rather central position, but Lupatelli failed to save and Torino's 4-game clean-sheet run had ended.

Sky Italia's man of the match Cedric Konan later had his shot fly straight into the hands of Antonio Chimenti as Torino fell a position thanks to goal-difference in the tight top of the table. Just three points are seperating 2nd place from the 7th.

Torino: 28-Cristiano Lupatelli; 3-Gianluca Comotto, 2-Raffaele Schiavi, 14-Ivan Franceschini, 16-Giuseppe Pancaro; 24-Cedric Konan

, 15-Diego De Ascentis, 17-Nikola Lazetic; 10-Alessandro Rosina; 19-Elvis Abbruscato

, 11-Roberto Stellone (64' 12-Masashi Oguro)

Cautioned : None

Other Results

Chievo Verona 0-3 Atalanta
Empoli 0-2 Inter
Lazio 1-1 Roma
Livorno 1-1 Parma
Ascoli 1-0 Reggina
Catania 2-0 Fiorentina
Siena 1-1 Messina
Milan 2-0 Udinese
Sampdoria 2-3 Palermo

Torino Position: 5th

Tanel · 28-12-06, 10:00 PM

Manager's Corner

Torino manager Tanel Tursk again writes to Torino about the latest developements in the club which has had a fantastic month.

Hello Toro Fans!

I like to salute you all for being great support for us in this month of magic for Torino. We're doing great in the Serie A and we've conceeded one goal in five matches.

I always said that my goal is to keep the clean-sheet because then it's sure our opponents won't outscore us.

Now we saw that immediately when we did such thing we had a create month and we're just two points away from second place and share the 3rd and 4th.

We had the best out of all the matches and maybe only Ascoli was good in keeping us to a draw, but we still had the better chances in that match.

Three big wins againist Catania, Chievo and Cagliari were great, but the Atalanta draw was a tough hit.

As you may know we had a tactical change againist Chievo Verona and it worked great. Our players often had problems againist wingers in that 3-5-2 formation and that's because we are more about skill, rather than pace.

Some players though have got their form back and play like they should.

Abbruscato is scoring left and right at the moment and we're getting the ball on his head as I demanded in September. Now we see the effect of it as he has scored lots of headers, the two goals againist Cagliari were joy to the eye.

Also the formation change had a positive effect on Alessandro Rosina and that was one of the main reasons behind that test in the first place.

Raffaele Schiavi is also finding his defending skills in the four-man backline and I hope that the big clubs don't come knocking at our door at the end of the season. =D

Also Lupatelli is more secure now and Pancaro has bloomed alongside Comotto. I have to praise every player, but I may need to be a little angry at Masashi Oguro's and Roberto Stellone's performances, but I'm sure they'll improve.

November will be tough for us... we have a tough Serie A tie againist Fiorentina in middle of the month and before that we'll have an important Coppa match with Palermo.

Toro For Scudetto!

Tanel Tursk
1st of November 2006

Tanel · 28-12-06, 10:01 PM

Reggina - Torino

5th of November 2006
Oreste Granillo, Reggio Calabria
Italian Serie A 2006/2007 - Week 11

40'

Daniel Imhof, 53'

Rolando Bianchi, 61'

Rolando Bianchi - 11'

Elvis Abbruscato, 21'

Nikola Lazetic, 68'

Elvis Abbruscato, 83'

Gianluca Comotto

You cannot get much more exciting games than this. Torino grabed the lead, got a man sent off, fell 1-3 behind and came back 3-3 to see Ivan Pelizzoli make some brilliant saves at the end of the match to keep them from winning againist Reggina.

Alessandro Rosina, Stefano Fiore, Marco Di Loreto and Andre Zuba were on the sidelines for Torino side that prepared to face Reggina away after a five-match unbeatten run in the league. Simone Barone returned to bench.

The match started off with Cristiano Lupatelli's great save on Beto's powerful shot as Reggina had a free-kick from 30 meters.

Soon after Roberto Stellone's shot was pushed away by Ivan Pelizzoli, but only into path of Diego De Ascentis who somehow managed to put the ball miles over the empty goal as the sections of Reggina supporters had a good laugh at him.

Torino was the first to break through though. Roberto Stellone run for a excellent Nikola Lazetic pass on the wing and crossed for Elvis Abbruscato whose header flew comfortably into the back post.

Abbruscato scores with a header

Just three minutes later Torino went close to doubling, but it was just matter of centimeters when Abbruscato almost connected with a diving header for Iacopo Balestri cross. The touch wasn't good enough though and the ball flew wide of the goal.

Lupatelli then made another great save on Beto on the other end of the pitch as Reggina opened up Torino defence.

It was miracle when Lupatelli managed to keep out Rolando Bianchi's low shot out of the far corner, but he somehow did it and kept Torino's lead.

The match had such fast-paced start that it didn't even take a minute for Abbruscato get through one on one at the other end after an amazing pass from Lazetic, but Pelizzoli managed to get his hand in front of the Abbruscato shot.

Though soon after Lazetic who had been giving Reggina quite a head-ache had to go off the pitch just after twenty minutes with his second yellow card and Tanel Tursk was protesting wild on the side of the pitch.

The game calmed down for a little time as for next fifteen minutes the only event was Reggina midfielder Masmanidis curler that flew harmlessly over the goal.

Reggina finally got their desired equalizer though as Daniel Imhof shot from 35 meters flew into the back post as a candidate for goal of the month.

What a goal from Imhof!

De Ascentis headed over a Cedric Konan cross soon after that and Bianchi's shot was pushed over by Lupatelli as two teams went into half-time break with one-all scoreline.

Simone Barone joined the game to balance the midfield after the Lazetic dismissal and Stellone had to come off as sacrifice.

But Torino fell behind with ugly mistake from Balestri. His back-pass to Lupatelli flew into the path of Bianchi who had no trouble dribbling past the former Fiorentina goalkeeper and sending the ball into empty net.

Lupatelli then pushed Bianchi's header over to keep Torino in the game, but he didn't have much to do when Ivan Franceschini and Raffaele Schiavi failed to find an agreement on who is marking Bianchi.

The young striker got a shot from ten meters without anyone disturbing in and Lupatelli didn't have much to do.

Minutes later Pelizzoli tiped over a Simone Barone long-range effort and Abbruscato's header flew just a bit over the bar.

Torino break through in 68th minute though. De Ascentis showed one of his best skills, long pass, to send through Abbruscato who scored his 8th league goal of the season as he was left one on one with Pelizzoli.

Abbruscato gets Toro back into the match

Torino was getting back into the match now and Comotto's header from Barone corner flew just wide of the goal.

Abbruscato almost scored a hattrick, but Pelizzoli performed a great save to keep his header from seven meters out of the net.

Il Granata got their equalizer though. Iacopo Balestri brilliantly saw Gianluca Comotto breaking free in the box and sent a low cross to him as the winger then scored his first of the season by sending the ball into far post.

Torino almost scored the winner, but absolutely outrageous acrobatic save from Pelizzoli kept the points for the homeside. De Ascentis got the header in that case.

Torino rised to fourth despite the draw and still are drifting just two points off the second place while Inter are running away.

Torino: 28-Cristiano Lupatelli; 16-Giuseppe Pancaro, 2-Raffaele Schiavi, 14-Ivan Franceschini, 22-Iacopo Balestri; 3-Gianluca Comotto

, 15-Diego De Ascentis, 17-Nikola Lazetic

; 24-Cedric Konan; 19-Elvis Abbruscato

, 11-Roberto Stellone (45' 8-Simone Barone)

Cautioned : 15' Nikola Lazetic, 21' Nikola Lazetic, 45' Diego De Ascentis, 56' Gianluca Comotto, 75' Giuseppe Pancaro

Other Results

Siena 1-2 Chievo Verona
Cagliari 0-0 Atalanta
Fiorentina 3-0 Ascoli
Inter 3-1 Lazio
Messina 3-2 Livorno
Palermo 1-1 Empoli
Udinese 1-2 Catania
Parma 1-0 Sampdoria
Roma 3-1 Milan

Torino Position: 4th

Tanel · 28-12-06, 10:02 PM

Tursk angry at referee

Reggio Calabria, 5th of November 2006 - Torino manager Tanel Tursk is angry at referee Domenico Messina for sending off Nikola Lazetic after just 21 minutes in a thrilling 3-3 draw againist Reggina.

Lazetic leaves the pitch

Torino side grabed the lead through Elvis Abbruscato, but then Nikola Lazetic got sent off with a second bookable offence and Torino fell 1-3 behind.

The Turin side recovered later though and scored two goals in a thrilling and well-balanced match to end the match with a draw.

"I'm really angry at this decision. You don't give out second yellow for such a simply foul. And his first yellow was also for a soft tackle that even barely harmed the opponent," Tursk blamed to the media.

"He gave out far too many yellow cards, for both sides. This was ridicilous. That wasn't a dirty match, but for Messina every tackle seems to be worth a yellow," he said.

"Now switching to the other subjects, I think we had a great match. And with Lazetic we would've probably won it no doubt. The come-back was well deserved and we almost hit the winner very late in the game thanks to De Ascentis, but Pelizzoli performed an amazing save."

Though when said that his team relies on Abbruscato's goals Tursk wasn't happy to hear it.

"We don't depend on Elvis. He is just another great talent in the squad. Everyone has his own talents to offer. He offers us goals, Lazetic offers us great crosses, Rosina offers us his lion heart and so on. It's true that Abbruscato has been one of the key members and I hope he can get the top scorer title at the end of the season as that'd mean that we'd score lots of goals."

Torino's next Serie A match is at home againist Fiorentina, but there is a break between and before the break they'll meet Palermo in Coppa Italia.

Tanel · 29-12-06, 12:25 PM

Palermo - Torino

8th of November 2006
Renzo Barbera, La Favorita, Palermo
Coppa Italia 2006/2007 - Round 2 - Leg 1

18'

Eugenio Corini, 62'

Amauri, 78'

Amauri - 73'

Gabriele Cioffi

Torino is virtually out of the Italian Cup after a 1:3 away loss to Palermo thanks to two Amauri goals.

Torino had injury problems with Stefano Fiore, Andre Zuba and Alessandro Rosina still out while Gianluca Comotto was banned and Marco Di Loreto sat on bench for the Italian Cup tie first leg. Tursk was forced to play a 4-1-3-2 formation rather than his prefered 4-3-1-2.

It started off with a predicted pressure from Palermo who holds the 2nd place in Serie A currently, but Cristiano Lupatelli saved Amauri shot without no big problems.

Then Christian Brocchi curled his effort over the goal and Cesare Bovo soft long range shot also flew over.

Amauri's header dangerously flew wide of the goal, but two minutes later Eugenio Corini opened the scoring with his trademark curling free-kick from 25 meters.

Corini with a trade-mark free-kick

The game calmed down then as only one save was made by Lupatelli in the following twenty minutes on Amauri header.

At the end of the half though Torino got into the game thanks to some work from Elvis Abbruscato, but first Nikola Lazetic sent his header wide of the back post and then Abbruscato had his shot saved by young Federico Agliardi.

At half-time Claudio Ferrarese made his first game of the season and Marco Di Loreto returned from injury-break.

Though it was Palermo who got the first chance again as David Di Michele didn't stop the play despite Giuseppe Pancaro injury, but he shot over. Gabriele Cioffi had to come in as there were no full-backs left on the bench.

Torino was very close to grabing the equalizer three minutes later, but Federico Agliardi made a fantastic double save on Roberto Stellone's header and Nikola Lazetic low follow-up shot.

Palermo soon after doubled the lead thanks to an Amauri header after a Franco Brienza free-kick as out of form Iacopo Balestri was marking him.

Amauri scores his first of the night

Torino got their goal finally though as Lazetic showed his crossing skills by sending the ball in for unmarked Gabriele Cioffi at the back-post to head a soft ball over Agliardi into the net.

Though the party didn't last long as Palermo regained the two goal lead five minues later thanks to Amauri scoring from a Bovo's pass as he was again unmarked in the box.

The closing minutes were nerve-wrecking for both sides though, Torino was very close to grabing another vital away goal, but Abbruscato's effort got blocked off the line and Ferrarese's free-kick was headed into woodwork by Stellone.

The second leg will be played in Turin at the start of December, but Torino's chances are slim. But if they do win, they may meet Juventus in the next round.

Torino: 28-Cristiano Lupatelli; 16-Giuseppe Pancaro (50' 6-Gabriele Cioffi

), 2-Raffaele Schiavi, 14-Ivan Franceschini (45' 25-Marco Di Loreto), 22-Iacopo Balestri; 15-Diego De Ascentis; 24-Cedric Konan (45' 20-Claudio Ferrarese), 8-Simone Barone, 17-Nikola Lazetic; 19-Elvis Abbruscato, 11-Roberto Stellone

Cautioned : 17' Ivan Franceschini

Tanel · 29-12-06, 04:56 PM

Torino - Fiorentina

19th of November 2006
Stadio Olimpico, Turin
Italian Serie A 2006/2007 - Week 12

17'

Roberto Stellone

The magical season of Torino continued with a 1:0 victory over Fiorentina thanks to Roberto Stellone induvidual effort. Despite the amount of shots, the match wasn't for the neutral though.

Only Nikola Lazetic was out with a suspension for Torino for this important game againist Fiorentina who were sitting 19th thanks to the Calciopoli penalty, but they'd be alongside the top 10 with the 19 points taken away from them.

Even Andre Zuba was on bench for Torino after a long injury, but Tursk told that it'll take quite some time before Zuba may challange Lupatelli for the no. 1 gloves. Also Roberto Cuevas was on bench for the first time.

The first shot of the game was a dangerous Stefano Fiore free-kick which was brought a top-notch save out of Sebastien Frey.

Riccardo Montolivo effort was comfortably catched by Cristiano Lupatelli and Donadel free-kick also flew into the arms of Torino goalkeeper.

After that free-kick Lupatelli sent the ball to Cedric Konan at the middle of the field. Konan layed it on to Roberto Stellone on the wing, who then dribbled past Dario Dainelli to send the ball into the back post for the opener.

Stellone's last scored againist Catania 4th of October

It was striker's third goal in otherwise disappointing season. His previous goals came againist Catania and Lazio.

He almost scored another one minutes later, but his header from Konan cross skimed the crossbar.

Fiorentina got close to equalizing, but Lupatelli performed a great save on Adrian Mutu's low free-kick aimed at the back-post.

Sebastien Frey almost made a bizarre mistake when he stoped Giuseppe Pancaro's cross from going into net just on line with catching the ball with his fingertips.

Raffaele Schiavi kept Luca Toni from going into a one on one againist Lupatelli with his trademark tackle and Michele Pazienza shot the ball wide from 30 meters in the follow-up.

Torino got very close through Stellone again, but Frey kept him out in an one on one situation with a low one-hand save and Barone soon curled the ball into side-net with a dangerous shot.

Iacopo Balestri came in at half-time for tired Stefano Fiore, but the second half was rather boring.

Giuseppe Pancaro's shot didn't give any problems to Sebastien Frey and Luca Toni's first headers of the game didn't give any problems to his former team-mate Cristiano Lupatelli either.

Roberto Cuevas made his debut as the Spaniard came on for Roberto Stellone in the 62nd minute.

The game though opened up a little after that as Luca Toni was a constant threat in the second half, but Lupatelli did two very nice saves on him to continue with a zero for Fiorentina in the scoreline.

The final chance of the game fell to Torino in the 77th minute though, but Elvis Abbruscato headed just a little bit wide of the Frey goal.

With the victory Torino made a rise to the second place and thanks to the Milan derby draw between Inter and Milan they are drifting with 'just' nine points.

Torino: 28-Cristiano Lupatelli; 3-Gianluca Comotto, 2-Raffaele Schiavi, 25-Marco Di Loreto, 16-Giuseppe Pancaro; 7-Stefano Fiore (45' 22-Iacopo Balestri), 8-Simone Barone, 24-Cedric Konan; 10-Alessandro Rosina; 19-Elvis Abbruscato, 11-Roberto Stellone

(62' 29-Roberto Cuevas)

Cautioned : 50' Elvis Abbruscato, 70' Giuseppe Pancaro

Other Results

Catania 1-2 Roma
Chievo 5-1 Cagliari
Empoli 1-3 Parma
Milan 1-1 Inter
Lazio 2-2 Palermo
Sampdoria 0-0 Messina
Ascoli 2-0 Udinese
Atalanta 1-0 Reggina
Livorno 0-0 Siena

Torino Position: 2nd

Jack' · 29-12-06, 06:18 PM

that was a gd read

Tanel · 29-12-06, 07:41 PM

Dreamland for Torino

Turin, 19th of November 2006 - Torino outfit is in dreamland after their latest victory over Fiorentina at home saw them grab the second place in Serie A.

Roberto Stellone salutes the fans after the game

Roberto Stellone grabed the only goal in a close-fought victory for Torino, but perhaps that was deserved with them having much better of the chances.

Torino now is 2nd in the table and after years of disappointment it seems like the arrival of Tanel Tursk has changed the fortunes around. The former Champions League winning-coach praised has lead his team to six match unbeatten run.

The boss was delighted with another victory and told it was a big team effort.

"I was a little afraid before the match as my view on Fiorentina was rather fuzzy. I didn't know whether they were strong or they were below their level at the moment. But we coped with them very well and got some great chances. We didn't really depend on any player, but everyone played thier role very well."

"For the first time we didn't give that much opportunities to Abbruscato, but we managed to still win and I'm sure Stellone has put his goal-scoring drought behind him. Lupatelli and defence did very well at the first half espescially, in the second half Toni gave us problems with his strenght."

Torino has got one of the best goal differences in the league, but despite the defensive record not looking great Tursk still think one of they key's to this year's success have been their defenders.

"We've conceeded in 'packs'. Twice we conceeded three goals, one time thanks to being 10-men, once four, while the third one there was offside. They gave us quite a bad bounce in that table, but we still have a top 10 defence alongside best attack. We aren't like Zdenek Zeman's Lecce side with the most goals and most conceeded aswell."

Tanel · 30-12-06, 10:09 AM

Udinese - Torino

26th of November 2006
Stadio Friuli, Udine
Italian Serie A 2006/2007 - Week 13

16'

Raffaele De Martino, 87'

Damiano Zenoni (pen) - 24'

Giuseppe Pancaro, 78'

Elvis Abbruscato

Cristiano Lupatelli made one of the best games of his life, but still he couldn't do anything againist a Damiano Zenoni late penalty that gave dominant Udinese a well-deserved one point.

Torino had tough game on the weekend againist Udinese, but they were helped by the fact that no-one was missing from the squad and Nikola Lazetic returned to the starting line-up. Christian Obodo and Jose Montiel were out of first team for inconsistent Udinese.

It was Udinese who took the lead after a rather boring start as teenage talent Raffaele De Martino headed in a Giampiero Pinzi corner-kick.

Raffaele De Martino scores his first ever Udinese goal

Though Torino replied to Udinese soon after as Nikola Lazetic set up Giuseppe Pancaro on the edge of the box as he sent a fantastic rising long-range shot under the bar.

Pinzi's corner were constant head-ache for Torino defenders and Cristian Zapata headed dangerously wide after half-hour mark.

It was then followed by string of Torino chances though. First Roberto Stellone was set up by Nikola Lazetic, but his shot was saved by Morgan De Sanctis.

Then half a minute later Gianluca Comotto's soft shot bounced off the cross bar, again from Lazetic pass and from the following situation Torino got a free-kick from 20 meters, but Stefano Fiore's shot was amazingly saved by De Sanctis.

Though Udinese was quick to offer similiar football, but Gyan Asamoah saw his shot fantastically saved by Cristiano Lupatelli.

The same man was again a threat, but this time his low shot came even more classy save out of Lupatelli.

Before the half-time break Torino almost grabed the lead, but it was goalkeepers show and De Sanctis's reaction save kept Elvis Abbruscato's first chance of the afternoon out of the net.

Cedric Konan came on for Stellone who was yet again fading in attack as De Martino quickly shot over after the second half kicked off.

Asamoah was struggling to get the ball past Lupatelli and his bomb was again pushed away by the stunning former Roma man.

There was some bad news for Torino soon after though, Konan had to come off the pitch after just twenty minutes as Masashi Oguro came in to replace injuried Ivorian striker. Iacopo Balestri also came in for Stefano Fiore who was disappointing again.

Balestri almost got a dramatic goal, but his cross was deflected to the post by one of Udinese's defenders. It was the second time Torino hit the woodwork.

Udinese had far more of the shots and possession, but it was still Torino who grabed the lead thanks to another dangerous counter-attack.

Japanese striker Oguro got a rare cross from the left wing and Elvis Abbruscato headed it in for his 9th Serie A goal of the season without no problems.

Abbruscato's 9th Serie A goal

What followed though was a total one team show which just couldn't overcome one Torino player though.

Cristiano Lupatelli needed to make a incredible jump back to keep out a Schumacher header as Udinese players were almost celebrating.

Then Gianluca Comotto made an incredible run to make a fantastic on line clearence, but Lupatelli jumped made a huge jump to keep off a Felipe header as Udinese players couldn't believe that they hadn't grabed the equalizer.

Lupatelli then made an incredible reaction save to bunch of a Schumacher header, but from the following corner kick a soft penalty kick was given to Udinese for a Gianluca Comotto jump on Gyan Asamoah.

Damiano Zenoni steped up for Udinese's best opportunity to save the points and this time the cold-headed penalty gave Lupatelli no chances eventhough he aimed at the right way.

In the injury time it seemed though that Torino may grab a late winner, but Oguro's shot went just centimeters past the unguarded Udinese goal to share the points between teams.

Lupatelli got the Sky Italia's man of the match for the second time this season, but both teams can be happy and disappointed at the same time. Torino conceeded a very late penalty and missed an incredible chance at the end, but Udinese was statistically much better team and really should've scored few more goals if there wasn't for Lupatelli.

Torino: 28-Cristiano Lupatelli; 3-Gianluca Comotto, 2-Raffaele Schiavi, 25-Marco Di Loreto, 16-Giuseppe Pancaro

; 7-Stefano Fiore (66' 22-Iacopo Balestri), 8-Simone Barone, 17-Nikola Lazetic; 10-Alessandro Rosina; 19-Elvis Abbruscato

, 11-Roberto Stellone (45' 24-Cedric Konan) (66' 12-Masashi Oguro)

Cautioned : None

Other Results

Fiorentina 2-0 Atalanta
Inter 2-1 Catania
Livorno 0-2 Chievo
Palermo 1-2 Milan
Parma 1-2 Lazio
Roma 2-0 Ascoli
Siena 0-1 Sampdoria
Messina 1-1 Empoli
Reggina 3-3 Cagliari

Torino Position: 3rd

Tanel · 30-12-06, 02:40 PM

Torino boss happy with a point

Comotto surprised at referee's decision

Torino manager Tanel Tursk is happy with his team's point againist Udinese though he puts a finger on Gianluca Paparesta for the late penalty.

Torino was under huge pressure after Elvis Abbruscato took the lead for them and Cristiano Lupatelli was making amazing saves until Gianluca Comotto was adjudged to have pushed Gyan Asamoah in the box and referee gave a penalty kick.

"I don't know. I'm not denying there was a push, but referee should've seen that Asamoah made the most of it. I've seen many similiar situations that don't end up as penalties. I think he should've not given it. Otherwise there'd be a penalty after every corner-kick," Tursk said rather calmly in his post-match interview.

"It's true that our display wasn't the perfect one, but again every shot we made was dangerous, unlike Udinese's so the draw is fine result. I think the both goalkeepers gave in top-notch performances and we saw nice goals, espescially Pancaro's shot from the edge of the box."

Torino is flying high and hasn't lost in eight games in a row, but Tursk says they can improve.

"I've got my eye on some transfer coups which I announce on the manager's diary in 1st of January, but this squad could improve aswell. Our record lately isn't that good. We've have a record of win, draw, win, draw and so on. I think we should've gotten more out of those draws, espescially Atalanta and Reggina games."

In December Torino will have toughest month of the season as they'll meet most of the top teams around the Serie A.

Tanel · 30-12-06, 03:54 PM

Manager's Corner

Torino manager Tanel Tursk again e-mails us his monthly review on how things are going in the club and what are his plans for thrilling December.

Hello Toro Fans

It's been a great month for us again. Not as good as October, but I enjoyed it a lot and so did the players. We collected up some big wins, though also had some tough games.

Due to the international break this wasn't as busy month as usually, but we still had some quite thrilling matches.

First ofcourse the Reggina tie which I believe was decided by the referee with an early red card, but we fought back and in my eyes we were much better than the home-side. Pelizzoli's late save on De Ascentis took me off the chair and my heart was beating very fasting at that moment.

We then played down our chances in Coppa with a 1:3 loss, but we'll try to make up for it in our first game of December. The Palermo second leg at home is also going to be our 100th anniversary celebration and for a gift we could not only win, but also we'll meet Jubentus in Coppa quarters. We'll definately fight and give all our heart, but Palermo is a great side and they may do just the same.

Fiorentina win was a great display from us and except from Toni's second half we really didn't have much trouble containing the Firenze side. After the match I also had some brief words with Cesare Prandelli who praised Torino side and told me that he believes we could go very far in this Serie A campaign.

I told him that in couple of years time we want the Scudetto. Cairo before the season announced aswell the plans of a 2008 Scudetto I think, that's a little early though.

Our Udinese game was thrilling again, just like Reggina, but again referee really was soft for our opponents so they got that late penalty. Lupatelli was fantastic in that match and we should've won just for him.Though it wasn't a great performance I must admit.

Now going on to the next month I see us having lots of interesting games. I'm obviously greatly looking foward to our match-up with Inter away and hope to become the first side to beat them, eventhough you may know that I'm an Interista.

We also have that second Coppa Italia tie which I mentioned and we play Roma right after the Inter game. Also Parma is tough and same could be obviously said about Palermo. Next month we are 'favourites' for only Parma game, if even that, but we'll look to get as much points as possible and go for win in every game.

Toro For Scudetto!

1st of December 2006
Tanel Tursk

Tanel · 30-12-06, 07:48 PM

Torino - Palermo

6th of December 2006
Stadio Olimpico, Turin
Coppa Italia 2006/2007 - Round 2 - Leg 2

3-3 Aggregate (Torino Through On Away Goals)
31'

Elvis Abbruscato, 82'

Alessandro Rosina - 89'

Francesco Parravincini

Torino got a brilliant 100th anniversary gift as they did enough to secure an away goal aggregate lead in the Coppa Italia tie againist Palermo as they'll meet Juventus in the quarters!

Torino was in tough mountain to climb as they celebrated their 100th anniversary today on Olimpico with a record attendance of the year as many Torino legends arrived on the standings as there was a huge party before the game. Hundreds of legends, including Dennis Law arrived in the standings to watch Torino play.

Torino who was 0-2 behind on aggregate was missing striker Cedric Konan for two months.

To make matters even more sweeter Torino knew that in case of a win they were going to play Juventus in the next round over a long time of not meeting and Tanel Tursk stated that one of the main reasons he came to coach Torino because he wants to beat Juventus in a derby match.

It was Palermo who got the first chance of the match through a David Di Michele lob which went harmlessly over though.

Torino took it's lesson and soon after much dangerous attack was in the other end of the pitch. First Federico Agliardi, who has been put together with a Torino move lately, saved a Stefano Fiore shot in near post and then he had to make a great reaction save on Alessandro Rosina free-kick.

Torino was dominant, but they couldn't create much chances, but after half-hour game got life back. Elvis Abbruscato made a dangerous turn outside of box and immediately shot, Agliardi didn't have time to react, but it flew just over the bar.

Though Torino got a vital goal that put them back to the match. Nikola Lazetic crossed in a Giuseppe Pancaro through ball to him and Abbruscato scored his 15th goal of the season with a header that flew uncatchably into the near post.

Abbruscato got another goal

Torino was still dominating and Raffaele Schiavo got foward from defence, but his bomb curled over the goal as on the other end Di Michele's shot flew over the bar.

Torino manager didn't seem to change anything for the second half, but he needed a second goal and it didn't seem to be coming and he bringed in Masashi Oguro for Roberto Stellone twenty minutes into second half.

Fabio Simplicio curled a free-kick over to open up the match again for the last fifteen minutes though.

Torino the broke through with a fine attacking move, Fiore header fell into path of Abbruscato who showed his fine technic by setting up Masashi Oguro on the run.

Defender catched up with the Japanese striker though and his shot was blocked, but Oguro got the ball back and he sent it foward to Alessandro Rosina who was running down an empty zone in the middle and the 22-year old fans favourite sent the ball comfortably into the goal, sending Torino fans to heaven.

Rosina's goal puts Torino on the road to quarterfinals

Palermo immediately found a way through Torino defence aswell, but Francesco Parravincini shot over and wide from a brilliant position.

Then Torino almost tripled their lead, bu Masashi Oguro's wonderful run ended up with a great save from Agliardi.

Andrea Caracciolo's shot was comfortably punched over by Cristiano Lupatelli and soon after Iacopo Balestri came in to rob some vital time for Torino.

The victory got certain when referee saw Parravincini hitting Rosina and he sent the striker under a shower five minutes earlier than the final whistle as Torino clinched a place in quarter-finals of the cup and they can have a local derby with Juventus thanks to that.

Torino: 28-Cristiano Lupatelli; 3-Gianluca Comotto, 2-Raffaele Schiavi, 25-Marco Di Loreto, 16-Giuseppe Pancaro; 7-Stefano Fiore (88' 22-Iacopo Balestri), 8-Simone Barone, 17-Nikola Lazetic; 10-Alessandro Rosina

; 19-Elvis Abbruscato

, 11-Roberto Stellone (65' 12-Masashi Oguro)

Cautioned

: None

Tanel · 02-01-07, 09:50 AM

Inter - Torino

9th of December 2006
Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, San Siro, Milano
Italian Serie A 2006/2007 - Week 14

9'

Ivan Cordoba, 40'

Dejan Stankovic, 67'

David Villa, 76'

Zlatan Ibrahimovic - 20'

Roberto Stellone, 65'

Nikola Lazetic (pen), 84'

Masashi Oguro

Torino didn't make it easy for the Serie A leaders, but they still had to leave Giuseppe Meazza with a thrilling 3:4 loss as the defence yet again cracked againist better strikers.

Torino was in hot form and fresh from an inspirational Coppa Italia win over Palermo, but they had a match againist unbeatten Inter in the next round of Serie A and Cedric Konan was out. While Nerazzurri didn't have the services of Maxwell, Julio Cesar and Florent Malouda.

The match got a quick start and David Villa tried to lob Cristiano Lupatelli right after the start, but his 45 meter shot flew wide.

Torino defence couldn't handle the young Spaniard and soon after his header had to be saved by Lupatelli.

Nerazzurri grabed the lead on 9th minute already though, Ivan Cordoba who was playing full-back instead of usual central defender headed in a Javier Zanetti cross in the near post.

Ivan Cordoba opens up the goal-fest

Inter was troubling the Torino side espescially on the wings and in air and Walter Samuel almost doubled the lead, but his header went wide after a corner.

Torino finally got their first chance and immediately used it. Nikola Lazetic's fantastic skills showed off with his long run down the wing as he set up Roberto Stellone who dribbled past Francesco Toldo to open Torino's account.

Torino seemed to be getting back in and Roberto Stellone's break in to the box ended up with a brilliant Toldo save and Abbruscato couldn't get his foot againist the ball that bounced off ex-Italian goalkeeper.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was invisible, but he started to get into the game after half-hour. First he sidenetted under pressure from Raffaele Schiavi and then he shot miles over after he dribbled past Gianluca Comotto on the wing.

Though he finally got it on target, but Lupatellis save went to corner. Ribery took it and Simone Barone was outpowered in air by Dejan Stankovic as Nerazzurri re-took the lead.

Ibrahimovic could've virtually finished the game, but he shot over one on one with Lupatelli as half-time break arrived with Nerazzurri leading.

Torino never really got to handle the Inter midfield and it was mostly Lupatelli and defenders who were doing the job and once again they kept Torino's hopes alive as 'Lupo' saved Villa's post from back post.

As the game didn't go as planed for Torino, Masashi Oguro and Iacopo Balestri steped in 30 minutes before the end and it bringed some luck to Torino just minutes later.

Marco Materazzi pushed Elvis Abbruscato to get the ball after a Nikola Lazetic cross and Torino's best outfield player so far went to take the given penalty himself.

No mistake from the Serbian as he shot the ball into top corner with a text-book penalty and Torino had equalized.

Lazetic scores a magnificient penalty

Though the lead didn't last long, the hero so far turned into a villain just two minutes later. Cristiano Lupatelli came out of his goal, but his clearence was weak and inaccurate as the ball fell to Villa. The Spanish international had problems scoring before, but he didn't miss an empty net and Torino was behind again.

Torino got close to equalizing for the third time, but Alessandro Rosina's free-kick went wide as Torino's free-kick curse continued. Il Granata has only scored one goal straight from free-kick this season and that was a Stefano Fiore cross that Lazio's goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi misread.

Injuried Simone Barone had to come out for Torino as Diego De Ascentis replaced him fifteen minutes from time.

Just two minutes later De Ascentis lost a tackle in midfield and Maicon's long pass was lobbed over Cristiano Lupatelli by Zlatan Ibrahimovic to clinch the match.

'Ibra' finally got his goal after many missed chances

Torino got one goal back thanks to a Masashi Oguro's rare header after a scramble in Inter box where Walter Samuel couldn't clear the ball, but Torino's first loss in leage after an eight match unbeatten run was inevitable.

Torino now felt to 8th in the table, but they have a home-match with Roma which got delayed and a win from there could put the second best goalscorers of Serie A into fourth place.

Torino: 28-Cristiano Lupatelli; 3-Gianluca Comotto, 2-Raffaele Schiavi, 25-Marco Di Loreto, 16-Giuseppe Pancaro; 7-Stefano Fiore (62' 22-Iacopo Balestri), 8-Simone Barone (74' 15-Diego De Ascentis), 17-Nikola Lazetic

; 10-Alessandro Rosina; 19-Elvis Abbruscato, 11-Roberto Stellone

(62' 12-Masashi Oguro

)

Cautioned : 11' Marco Di Loreto

Other Results

Parma 1-1 Catania
Fiorentina 4-0 Reggina
Livorno 1-1 Empoli
Messina 0-3 Milan
Palermo 2-0 Ascoli
Sampdoria 0-0 Chievo
Siena 1-1 Lazio
Udinese 2-1 Cagliari
Roma 0-1 Atalanta

Torino Position: 8th

Tanel · 02-01-07, 09:52 AM

Toro not shaken by the beating

Milano, 9th of December 2006 - Torino boss and Inter fan Tanel Tursk said that the 3-4 loss againist Nerazzurri won't kill his team's spirit. Though he hints at replacing Cristiano Lupatelli.

Lupatelli position was put under doubt

Though since Cristiano Lupatelli has conceeded numerous goals already in the league Tanel Tursk may finally bench the Italian as the young Brazilian protegee Andre Zuba is back in full fitness.

"Lupatelli has saved us quite a few times. Sorry, not few, I'd say tons. But the original "deal" was that he'll be back-up for Andre Zuba and we have him back after injury now. I think I may give Zuba a shot and see as at the moment we are conceeding lots of goals. 'Lupo' is in bad form, this thing can happen."

Though Torino side has now lost it's form with just one point from last couple of Serie A games, but Tursk says his side can bounce back on Wednesday againist Roma already.

"We are not in bad form. We just have many tough games in a row. We won convincingly againist Palermo if people have forgotten. I see us bouncing back soon, maybe we could even win all of our remaining games in December."

"I'm not happy with our display. I was hoping to end Inter's unbeatten run, but it didn't go through . We only got five shots on goal, though to hand it to the lads all of those were great chances. And to consider that we scored three goals and missed just two times is pleasant thing. We still lack in air though and sometimes we fail to get hold of the midfield, like againist Udinese."

Torino's next game where Andre Zuba may start is Roma and then soon they'll meet Parma and Palermo.