Focus: Serie A players don't like being substituted
It seems that Graziano Pelle’ isn’t the last player to react with irritation at being substituted.
During last month’s qualifier with Spain, the former Southampton man refused to shake hands with national team Coach Giampiero Ventura, only to apologize immediately after.
His behaviour has been followed by a string of similar incidents: Lorenzo Insigne being the first of this weekend’s offenders to act badly when benched.
One hour into this weekend’s 2-1 defeat to Juventus, and with the scores still level, Insigne reacted badly to his substitution with Emanuele Giaccherini, asking Coach Sarri “Why take me off? I’m the only one doing anything!”. Sarri was rather blunt at the end of the game, telling journalists at a press conference that “He needs to shut up when he is subbed, that’s it”.
Soon after, Carlos Bacca did the same thing when he has hooked in the second half of Milan’s 1-0 win over Pescara, but remonstrated publicly with Coach Vincenzo Montella, before hurling his jacket at the bench.
He was given a shot at forgiveness by his Coach, however, who said that he’s “a lot worse than what he’s done, let’s see what he has to say”.
Not long after, it was up to a mild-mannered player like Eder to get angry when he was taken off a quarter of an hour before the final whistle at the Marassi, with Sampdoria leading Inter 1-0… and taking home all three points.
Even here, he was given a pass by his manager, who had offered him his hand: “He always wants to win, but he’s played well lately, and I needed someone fresher”.
Is it a coincidence that this is happening more often of late… and that Eder was present when Pelle’ reacted badly to Ventura? MD, adapted by @EdoDalmonte
