Mistakes, choices to reconsider, remedies. For Catania, the playoffs remain an opportunity.

Caturano is not the scapegoat. Of course, from a striker who scored 18 goals last season, more was expected. He has played little, scored little. And he has been served little. The day before yesterday, he stayed on the field for 90 minutes without making an impact. A player like him should play as they used to in the holiday oratory: standing in front of the goal waiting for the cross. The style of play of Catania does not fit the former Potenza well. Better Forte, who has the ideal characteristics for Toscano's game.

But the crisis of results for Catania cannot be attributed to a single player, even though against Casertana Toscano fielded the two absentees called for by the fans, and they did not make any impact at all. The other is Bruzzaniti, of course. Who was a Maradona in Pineto, but in Catania has struggled to find space and timing. Toscano may have been right: the January signings need time to settle in, and especially Bruzzaniti has played in a role where he needs to perfect some mechanisms. But time is running out, and at the very least, the team must maintain the second place.

DISAPPOINTMENT AND NERVOUSNESS. It is clear that a club that fights for first place until January and wins only twice in the last eight matches, falling 12 points behind the leaders, must take a serious look at itself. Everyone has made mistakes in their evaluations. In the market (relatively), in technical management, in managing defeats as well. Closing in on oneself or acting as a censor leads nowhere. It is better to talk, perhaps to present oneself in person to explain the situation. And today, changing gears to chase promotion through the playoffs becomes a necessity but also an unknown.

THE JANUARY MARKET. In January, you cannot find Maita on the market. Not even if you pay a fortune for him. You find disgruntled players leaving other clubs, promising young talents, former injured players, and a few opportunities to bet on. And Pastore, who in the summer had assembled a respectable squad that indeed dominated the scene and the standings until mid-season, in January managed to secure a few good opportunities at the express request of the coach to address the absences.

MITIGATING FACTORS. Cicerelli (will not be on the list for Sunday, thus in Altamura), Aloi (absence perhaps too underestimated), Di Gennaro, recently also Forte (still not ready), Rolfini, at times Di Tacchio. Remove some of these key players from the lineup and the group's balance changes, even though at the end of the first half of the season, Catania was first without Cicerelli and Aloi. There are disallowed goals that have cost points, penalties not awarded, missed opportunities due to bad luck. But this happens to everyone during a season.

THE REMEDIES. With Toscano or not at the helm, Catania must return to attacking the opponent's area with more players and not sporadically. How do you explain the record home performance (the fans lead like no one else in C) and the points lost away? Aside from the incidents, there is a mental attitude that changes, there is a different reading of opponents who block the flanks and prevent the creation of superiority, there is a way of playing that often becomes cumbersome away and lately lacks sharpness in the finishing phase. Another remedy? Come together around the team and reach the playoffs without divisions and social judgments. With the first place faded, there is a fight for the best possible placement. As long as there is a single chance, it cannot be wasted with seven matches to go. Now, definitively, everyone must get their act together. Everyone.