Cesc Fabregas Prepares Como for Tough Match Against Frosinone
Cesc Fabregas knows exactly where Como stand in this new Serie A landscape. And it is nowhere near the Scudetto shoot-out he will be watching on television.
On Sunday afternoon, his team walk into the Stadio Benito Stirpe to face a fearless Frosinone side. Fabregas calls it one of the five toughest games of their season. For a club that has just rocketed from Serie B to the Champions League in three years, that is not false modesty. It is a warning.
‘I’ve won zero titles’
Asked whether he sees Como as part of the same conversation as Roma and Inter, who meet in a heavyweight clash the day before, Fabregas did not hesitate.
"In my view, they are the two strongest teams in Italy. I will watch it because I love football and think it is going to be an incredible game, not because they are our direct competitors for position," he said.
The question came wrapped in flattery. Some have suggested he is building at Como what Johan Cruyff once built at Barcelona. Fabregas cut that down instantly.
"I am a long way from so many, let alone him. Jose Mourinho said there are coaches who have won titles and others who won zero titles, and I am in the latter camp.
"The most important thing is Como, not me. I am within this project and I give it my all."
That line tells you everything about how he is trying to manage expectations around a club that has climbed too quickly for anyone to be fully comfortable predicting its ceiling.
He talks about time as his most precious resource. The work on the training ground. The continuity of a group that has already taken huge strides.
"The key for a coach is time to work, and I think this team has improved so much over the last two years. If we can continue with this same side for two, four, five years, then we can really do something, but if we change every six months, it's difficult."
Frosinone form sets the tone
So the focus returns to Frosinone. Promoted in the summer, unbeaten in their last three with two wins and a draw, and playing with the kind of freedom that makes established sides uncomfortable.
"It is going to be one of the five most difficult matches of our Serie A season," Fabregas insisted.
He has clearly studied Massimiliano Alvini’s work closely.
"Frosinone are in great form, watching them I can see 11 friends giving their all for each other, they play with courage and on the front foot. We need the perfect performance and I really enjoyed seeing Massimiliano Alvini's team in action.
"They have a fluidity and a very positive mentality, they're a genuine danger for anyone they face, and if we want to win, we need our best performance of the season."
That is not the language of a coach looking past an opponent. It is the language of someone who recognises that the trap for a fast-rising club is not the big nights in Naples or Rome, but the afternoons where everyone assumes the job is simpler than it is.
Big decisions, full squad
For the first time this season, Fabregas has a full squad at his disposal. Jayden Addai is back on the bench after surgery for a torn Achilles tendon, a significant emotional boost for the group as well as a tactical one.
It also presents the coach with one of the most delicate choices in any dressing room: the goalkeeper.
Jean Butez has been the long-term No.1. Robert Sanchez has just arrived on loan from Chelsea, bringing with him a history of trophies and the experience of living with constant pressure.
"Sanchez arrived from a very important club, he won trophies and knows how to deal with constant pressure to win. We didn't expect him to come here, but it's important for every player to get rest, even the goalkeepers. The last game was the first time in a year and a half that Butez didn't start."
"That was a test, we'll take it one game at a time and see what happens."
It is a glimpse into how Fabregas wants to run this project: competition everywhere, no places guaranteed, reputations parked at the door. Even in goal.
On Sunday in Frosinone, he does not need to win a title. He needs, as he put it himself, the perfect performance. The question now is whether this rapidly rising Como side can keep matching the size of his ambition with the clarity of his realism.
