Bologna’s Season In Review – Descent into Madness

Date: 19th May 2014 at 4:36pm
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A season that started disappointingly, with Stefano Pioli’s side waiting until their ninth game before securing their first win, descended into farce during the second half.

A summer that saw the Rossoblu creating a new forward line after the departures of Manolo Gabbiadini and club favourite Alberto Gilardino meant that hopes were pinned to Rolando Bianchi, after Bologna agreed to pick up his wage bill where Torino refused and continued source of inspiration Alessandro Diamanti.

After an opening day defeat to Napoli, it was Davide Moscardelli who got the ball rolling in a draw with Sampdoria. It was to be the Flying Beard’s only goal of the season, though Panagiotis Kone, who scored the second that day, was to prove important throughout.

A 5-0 defeat to Roma was the pivotal match of the early period, such a heavy drubbing meaning that Pioli pulled his team into their shell, eventually settling with a 3-5-1-1 formation that was set to frustrate their opposition – though with the hidden disadvantage of doing the same to the Veltri’s own forwards. Before that match, Bologna averaged 1.4 goals per game; after it, that dropped to 0.7.

It was, it turned out, a turning point for Pioli as well. With his forwards firing blanks, he struggled through until the first game after the winter break, but a defeat at Catania was enough to see his dismissed. In truth, it wasn’t his fault, something that became painfully apparent as new coach Davide Ballardini brought passion but no real improvement.

It is impossible to think that the protracted sale of Alessandro Diamanti to Guangzhou Evergrande didn’t affect the second half of the season negatively. Diamanti was not performing at his very best this campaign, but his ability to produce something from nothing, always offered some possibility. That said, the fact he has only one goal in his ten games in China so far suggests it might have the right time to cash in.

Eventually, the fans at the Stadio Renato dall’Ara were left clinging on to the hope that Bologna would be able to draw their way out of trouble, but in the end the fourteen even scorelines were not supplemented by enough victories to pull Ballardini’s team out of danger.

The end, when it came, was coated in black humour and coincidence. The Rossoblu ended – just as they started – the season without a win in nine games. In the penultimate week of the season a training game was arranged; a last desperate ploy to breathe some life into their misfiring forwards. It ended 0-0, beautifully encapsulating the side’s problems.

Then then lost, for a second time, to Catania to seal both teams’ relegations with a game to spare. Five wins. 28 goals. Joint-top scorers with five each. Bologna were deservedly relegated after their already weakened squad was dealt a fatal blow with the exit of Diamanti.

Player of the season

In such a bad season, there were very few bright spots. The form of Gianluca Curci was a pleasant surprise, particularly in the second half of the campaign. Diego Perez was often solid, but rarely spectacular, while the two full-backs looked to adapt well to the attacking aspect of the 3-5-1-1 system quite well, particularly Archimede Morleo.

Meanwhile, Panagiotis Kone blew hot and cold, but his propensity to get booked (another twelve yellow cards this season) meant he was missing more often than he should have been and could have been better when he was there.

In that light, I can only give the award to his team-mate Lazaros Christodopoulos. His whole-hearted bustling meant he seldom looked ineffective. Towards the end of the season, a lot of Ballardini’s game-plan revolved around his ability to carry the ball forward at a rate of knots and do something with it.

Admittedly, that ‘something’ was rarely scoring (he got two, both penalties) but he was often a standout and one of few Bologna players who look like they would be able to stay in Serie A.

Goal of the season

For the second campaign in a row, there’s a clear winner here. Admittedly, it’s from a small field of 23 (non-penalties) but it was a strike that will have few equals across Italy since an almost carbon-copy of itself last season.

In 2013, Panagiotis Kone scored a preposterous overhead kick and was nominated for the Puskas Award; he displayed vision, dexterity, flexibility and imagination in equal measure. For good measure, Kone repeated the trick this year, his goal against Sampdoria in September proving that lightning, unlike the Rossoblu’s forwards after February, could strike twice.

Best and worst signings

Again, there’s a fairly small field to work with in this category, but I would reckon that the work between the posts of Gianluca Curci to prevent defeats becoming drubbings would make him the best of a bad bunch.

It felt a strange signing at the time, as Curci is well into the veteran part of his career, but he managed to pull out a collection of fine performances, particularly after he was criticised in the defeat against Atalanta in November.

Meanwhile, the Rossoblu actually need to divide the worst signing into two to properly represent their catastrophic approach to the market.

The worst new player for Bologna is a tough call, but personally, the money paid out to Rolando Bianchi means his three goals represent a huge disappointment. Although not the same Bianchi as a couple of years ago, he was paid a hefty amount and failed spectacularly to deliver. He claimed injury, and he never quite seemed to settle, but for such a high profile signing, he was an undoubted flop.

Meanwhile, the worst actual ‘signing’ event would have to be Ibsen, after the Brazilian was unbelievably left at the airport by club directors who failed to collect him following his arrival. Unsurprisingly, he failed to settle after that and will not be much missed when he departs.

 

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