After years of turmoil off the pitch looked finally resolved for Cagliari, however things got worse on the pitch as a series of hometown heroes or Zemanlandia couldn’t save them from the Serie A drop.
After 11 seasons in Serie A, Cagliari have been relegated from Italy’s top division after an anti-climactic 2014-15.
Tommaso Giulini replaced Massimo Cellino as the Isolani president and his first season ended in failure. Zdenek Zeman was appointed as coach at the start of the campaign but he couldn’t work his magic like he did at Foggia, Lazio, Lecce and Pescara.
The Sardinian side started with a 1-1 draw against Sassuolo and then lost three matches in a row before facing Inter in Round 5.
Surprisingly Cagliari won 4-1 at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza after capitalising on Nerazzurri full-back Yuto Nagatomo’s sent-off.
The Isolani attacked like crazy and midfielder Albin Ekdal got an unlikely hat-trick. Marco Sau, who was operating as a small and nimble centre-forward, was a headache for the Inter defence, full-backs Antonio Balzano and Danilo Avelar attacked like out-and-out wingers, and Lorenzo Crisetig easily played long passes of midfield.
Sampdoria were leading 2-0 against Cagliari in Round 7 but Zeman’s side staged a fine comeback and drew 2-2. The Sardinians then won 4-0 away to Empoli, with Avelar being the stand-out thanks to a free-kick and penalty.
Sau then picked-up a muscular injury in the 1-1 draw against Genoa. His presence wasn’t missed in the 3-3 draw against Napoli, in which Cagliari came back twice from deficits, but as the weeks went by, Zeman’s side started to miss their reference point in attack.
On December 4, Cagliari played Serie B side Modena in fourth round of the Coppa Italia. After 90 minutes the score was 2-2 and both teams were still level after extra time with the score at 4-4. The Isolani triumphed 9-8 on penalties despite misses from Daniele Conti and Crisetig.
Despite the dramatic win in the cup, the Sardinians were struggling in the league and they were in the relegation zone after 15 matches. Zeman went against his beliefs and implemented defensive tactics for the Round 16 clash at home to Juventus.
Instead of his preferred 4-3-3 formation, he used the 4-4-2 formation with four centre-backs and two full-backs in midfield. It was a complete disaster and “Il Boemo” was sacked after the 3-1 defeat.
Gianfranco Zola replaced the coaching icon but the former Cagliari striker had a horrible debut on the Isolani bench, losing 5-0 to Palermo in the first match for 2015.
Zola managed to get wins against Cesena and Sassuolo, winning both matches 2-1, but a 2-0 loss to Sampdoria sealed his fate after just 10 league games in charge. During his tenure, Cagliari were also eliminated 2-1 by Parma in the Round of 16.
Giulini decided to bring Zeman back as coach and the Sardinians drew 1-1 with Empoli after leading for the majority of the time. Unfortunately the Isolani lost the next four and Zeman resigned as coach after losing 3-0 to Napoli.
Gianluca Festa became the third Cagliari coach of the season and he ditched the 4-3-3 formation for the 4-3-1-2. Changing formation paid dividends as the Sardinians sprung a surprise and defeated Fiorentina 3-1 in Florence.
Festa’s side thrashed Parma 4-0 and drew 1-1 against Juventus in Turin to give Cagliari a slight chance of survival but the Isolani’s fate was sealed in Round 36 when they lost 1-0 to Palermo.
There was some consolation at the end with a 1-0 win away to Cesena and a 4-3 home win against Udinese in which the Sardinian fans were able to farewell Conti and Cossu.
Player of the Season
Diego Farias. One of the more consistent players in the Cagliari squad, he played predominantly at right-wing but he was also capable of playing as a support striker.
He scored six goals and made three assists in 29 matches and the 25-year-old looked comfortable on the wings or drifting into the middle.
Special mention should also be given to captain Daniele Conti who retired after 16 seasons with the Sardinian side.
Goal of the Season
It is of course one of the Isolani’s go to men who bagged the goal of the season for the club. Diego Farias completed a brilliant solo run in the 3-1 win against Fiorentina.
One of only a handful of highlights for Cagliari this season.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9taPbnlgTQ[/youtube]
Best and Worst Signings
The Isolani brought in a lot of players at the start of the season, especially youngsters, but Diego Farias arrived on loan from Chievo and stood out in the Sardinian attack.
Quite a few of Cagliari’s signings flopped but centre-forward Samuele Longo scored no goals in 27 Serie A games. If Zeman can’t polish him up and turn him into an attacking star, how can another coach do so?
The Coach
Cagliari went through a coaching merry-go-round in 2014-15. Zeman was sacked 16 games, Zola lasted even less than “Il Boemo”, Zeman returned but lost four out of five games and resigned, and Festa had just seven games to turn things around.
Zeman failed to bring his project to fruition and the players struggled to fit into his system. He failed to accommodate Crisetig and Conti in the same midfield, attacking midfielder Andrea Cossu proved to be a shadow of his former self and Sau proved to be a huge loss in attack once he got injured.
Zola proved that great players don’t necessarily make great coaches. New players such as Paul-Jose Mpoku, Duje Cop, Zeljko Brkic and Modibo Diakite arrived in January but most of them struggled to make a great impact. The emergence of Godfred Donsah was the positive thing about Zola’s stint.
Festa could have helped Cagliari to survival if he had arrived earlier. He had a clear idea of the formation he wanted to use and placed his players in the appropriate positions. As a result, he won four out of seven league matches, just as many as Zeman and Zola combined.
