Parma Club Focus: Lightning Strikes Twice

And yet again, Parma does something unexpected.

Seriously, who would have expected that Parma could come up with a 1-0 victory over Napoli, at the San Paolo no less?

The roller coaster that is the Crociati’s season continues as, after drawing to Lazio, they down Napoli — the third place team in all of Serie A.

If Parma has anyone to thank for the surprise result, it is undoubtedly their prized transfer market acquisition, Antonio Cassano.

Simply put, Parma struggled mightily on the whole against Napoli. They managed just 38% of possession against Napoli’s 62%.

It was only in the 81st minute, as Cassano struck gold with the game-winning goal, that Parma showed their quality.

Parma also owes quite a bit to their goalkeeper Antonio Mirante, who made a number of quality saves as the game went on.

Most notably, he stopped two shots from Napoli striker Gonzalo Higuain at close range and a free kick from Lorenzo Insigne.

Finally, for the first time this year, young striker Nicola Sansone was handed his first start for the Crociati. While he didn’t score, he was in good position all game and had a shot that would have been a goal, but went slightly wide.

The end result of all of it: somehow, despite the odds, Parma sits at ninth in the tables now — one spot better than their finish last year.

The only bad news of the week came in the form of reports suggesting that ex-Parma players — including Lillian Thuram, Dino Baggio, Hernan Crespo, Sebastian Veron and Thomas Brolin among others — could be investigated in regard to fraudulent activity.

But even the bad news can do little to disrupt the good news that has been this season.

Quite frankly, the Crociati aren’t as talented as many of their peers — even those further down the table than them. They’ve accomplished their victories mostly through team effort and the occasional moment of individual brilliance. No doubt, Parma is most excited to have Cassano on their side. He has been the driving force behind most of their goals this season.

All of this having been said, it is nigh impossible to make an accurate prediction of the rest of Parma’s season. The only consistent thing about the Crociati this season is their inconsistency.

Beginning the season in raw form, they slowly began to increase their scoring, but to varied effect. Some games, they’d pull out of a hat despite being on the short end in most major statistical areas. In other games, they’d lose despite having the advantage in most phases of the game.

Just when you think the wheels have come off the wagon as the Crociati lose 3-2 to Hellas Verona, they respond the next week by topping AC Milan 3-2.

So, for most teams, the instinct would be to suggest that they will do better this season if their team continues to improve — doing worse if their team does worse. Alas, it seems the same is not quite true of Parma this year. They appear to be a real anomaly.

A few things that can be said for Parma: one, they face a relatively lightweight schedule on the horizon. The only major obstacle they will face looks to be an Inter team, but history shows that this means very little.

The final note to make is that there is untapped potential from Parma. Noted earlier, Sansone got his first start. If he continues to garner regular playing time, he could really morph into a danger for the opposition as the season wears on. Having two potent goalscorers would do a lot of good for a mostly midfield-heavy team.