At the beginning of the season it was all doom and gloom surrounding Livorno, after an unconvincing summer mercato which consisted mainly of bringing in players on loan, and in particular, young, unproven players.
On top of this they also have an inexperienced coach in Davide Nicola, who is only 40 years old, and has no previous experience in the Italian topflight.
The fans were rightfully fearful and their opening day defeat to Roma didn’t help ease these fears, especially considering they struggled to get out their own half for much of the game.
Nobody seemed to give the Amaranto a chance and they were tipped for a quick return to Serie B by most fans even before a ball was even kicked.
Despite all the negativity surrounding the club, the Tuscan side have shown character and mental strength, bouncing back in the face of adversity, beating Sassuolo and Catania 4-1 and 2-0 respectively, and picking up a further two points against Genoa and Cagliari.
Many will look at the table and simply dismiss these two wins against Sassuolo and Catania as they have both those sides have made dreadful starts to the season, picking up a mere two points between them from their first five games.
This may be true, however, both clearly have better sides (on paper at least) and the Amaranto have defeated them both convincingly, scoring six goals in the process and only conceding one.
Arguably the biggest positive from the last two games (apart from the six points) is the striking partnership between Paulinho and Innocent Emeghara, which seems to be blossoming into something special.
Emeghara burst on to the Calcio scene in January when Siena signed him on loan from French side Lorient. Though, his seven goals in 17 games was not enough to keep the Bianconeri in Serie A, even so, he impressed mightily.
Livorno managed to fight of interest from other clubs and secure him on loan with an option to buy at the end of the season. It is a move which could prove to be a stroke of genius and possibly even save them from relegation.
As previously mentioned, he seems to be striking up (no pun intended) a great relationship with last season’s top scorer, Paulinho.
In the opening game against Roma it was abundantly clear that the Brazilian was far too isolated up front on his own and he needed a striking partner, with the ball often being played up to him, only to be surrounded and quickly dispossessed by the Giallorossi’s defense.
With Emeghara in the side he can run in behind into the space left by Paulinho who often comes short and uses his physical presence. The combination of Paulinho’s physical strength and Emeghara’s pace, gives the Amaranto a true threat up front and one that many teams will find hard to deal with.
The shape of the team and also the defense is something that has also been worked on massively since the opening day defeat and they are reaping the rewards only conceding once in the last two games.
In the defeat against Roma the wing backs were arguably the biggest weakness in the side and were positionally disastrous, being at fault for one of the goals and also were out of sync with the center backs.
The upcoming game against Hellas Verona will be another massive test as the Gialloblu have also made a good start to the campaign and will be confident heading into the game this weekend.
However, Nicola’s men will not be short of confidence either after their recent results. There may still be a long way to go, but things are looking much brighter for Livorno. Maybe, just maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel.
