Relegation battles are often tight, scrappy, and dramatic affairs but this season’s battle for top flight survival looks over months before the campaign has concluded.
The bottom three of Crotone, Pescara, and Palermo have posed little threat so far to the rest of Serie A and the gap in the league table between 17th placed Empoli and the relegation zone is 11 points.
While the Squali and Delfini have had trouble making the jump from Serie B to Serie A, the familiar theme of instability is ever-present at Palermo. In addition to the evident lack of quality in their squads, each team has struggled due to major changes that took place before the 2016-17 season started.
Crotone and Pescara were promoted along with Cagliari but the Isolani have clearly adapted much better than the other two.
The Calabrian side are in Serie A for the first time in their history but Ivan Juric, the coach who guided them to that remarkable achievement, is now in charge of Genoa while current coach Davide Nicola has made them more conservative in their play.
They had lost players such as Eloge Yao, Federico Ricci, and Ante Budimir, who were important contributors to the Squali’s historical season, and they also had to play their first three home games for 2016-17 in Pescara, which is 600 kilometres away. Now, they are 18th in Serie A with just 10 points from 20 matches.
Pescara achieved promotion through the play-offs but the attacking philosophy of Coach Massimo Oddo has not been rewarding in Italy’s highest division as his sides are propping up the table with just nine points. Their only victory for the season was awarded on a technicality because Sassuolo had fielded an ineligible player in their round 2 meeting.
Since Gianluca Lapadula was sold to AC Milan, the Delfini have lacked a prolific goalscorer, and that has forced Oddo to experiment with using Gianluca Caprari as a false 9 but the tactic has not been successful.
Inter striker Rey Manaj failed to adapt and Pescara decided to cancel his loan spell from the Biscione while January arrivals Alberto Gilardino and Alberto Cerri are yet to find their feet in Abruzzo.
The Delfini have an abundance of playmakers in midfield but they lack the ball-winners they had in Serie B last season, with Lucas Torreira now at Sampdoria and Rolando Mandragora currently at Juventus. Sulley Muntari has arrived on a free transfer but he has not played competitive football for about six months.
Palermo are in crisis and as per usual, they have lacked stability. Rosanero president Maurizio Zamparini appointed Diego Lopez as his fourth coach for the season this week after Eugenio Corini announced his resignation and only Roberto De Zerbi had tried to create a style of play with the squad with his possession-based philosophy.
The Sicilians have a few youngsters in their squad but they are missing experienced players of exceptional quality. Veteran Alessandro Diamanti, in particular, is failing to fill the void left in attack by Franco Vazquez and Brazilian midfielder Bruno Henrique has struggled to adapt to the tactical nature of Italian football.
To make things worse for Serie A’s bottom three clubs, the teams above them in the table have improved in recent weeks.
Empoli have won three of their last five games largely thanks to Levan Mchedlidze scoring four goals in that timeframe while Sassuolo have been victorious in the last two rounds thanks to return of star wingers Domenico Berardi and Matteo Politano as well as Alessandro Matri scoring four times in those pair of wins.
Additional reinforcements in January might not enough to get these teams out of trouble as their form so far suggests that the quality between them and those above them is too high.
