STADIO ENNIO TARDINI (PARMA) – Parma left it late to clinch their Wednesday-night win over Sassuolo but after a dominant performance Antonino Barilla arrived to seal the points as his header across goal bounced off of Mehdi Bourabia and looped over Andrea Consigli.
Neroverdi goalkeeper Consigli was one of the reasons the scores were locked at 0-0 for so long, matched with poor finishing and VAR interventions.
Fortunate as the win was in the end, the Crociati were good-value for the three points.
Kulusevski is key
With every appearance he makes for Parma it becomes more of a mystery why Gian Piero Gasperini was happy to let him leave Atalanta this past summer.
On loan at Parma and still showing signs of inexperience, you have to think that he’ll be on his way back to Bergamo at the end of the current campaign, but the Gialloblu will be hoping to get as much as possible out of him in his season at the Tardini.
The Swedish teenager has regularly shown his technical ability since arriving in Emilia-Romagna and that was witnessed again on Wednesday as he looked to trouble Sassuolo’s backline whenever he found himself in possession.
On one occasion he made a complete mockery of two Neroverdi defenders, evading them in a tight corner and beating both with some clever movement of his feet. He did, though, overhit the subsequent cross.
They left it very late, but @ParmaCalcio_en got deservedly got the points against Sassuolo this evening.@ConJClancy is at the Tardini for #FIFattheGames.
Report ? https://t.co/SXMayWlVVZ#ParmaSassuolo #SerieA pic.twitter.com/1UvaJLzZ2J
— ForzaItalianFootball (@SerieAFFC) September 25, 2019
Kulusevski might even have scored had Roberto Inglese returned the ball to him after he sent the No.9 into the box. But even with the youngster better-placed, Inglese shot wide from a narrow angle. That appeared to be playing on his mind moments later when he overran the ball into Consigli’s arms rather than teeing up the forward.
Inexperience is still a slight issue that leads him to make mistakes, but Kulusevski is improving with every week and even when things aren’t going well for him he is always searching for the ball.
Whatever Parma do this year, the 19-year-old will have a big part in it.
Parma need goals
With just five goals in as many Serie A games this season, the Crociati need to be scoring more than a goal a game if they are to stay in the top flight for another year.
Roberto Inglese is struggling in front of goal, and he looks shot of the confidence he had in his Chievo days and even at points last season with Parma.
When he stepped up to take that second-half penalty, there was never a feeling that he was going to score. He looked edgy, and his execution was poor, making Andrea Consigli’s life a lot easier with his tame effort.
Inglese has now missed 50 percent of his Serie A penalties – three of six – and with his confidence appearing to be lower than ever, it mightn’t be the worst idea to hand that responsibility over to someone else.
When on form the No.9 is a real asset to the Gialloblu, but when he’s not firing his overall work rate tends to drop.
Andrea Cornelius came on in his place moments after the spot-kick miss, but he’s yet to fully prove himself in Serie A, even including his time at Atalanta.
The Dane can be a big player when he’s on it though, and he’ll be looking to start in the coming weeks to find his place in Roberto D’Aversa’s system.
Consigli’s wall
Andrea Consigli made his 200th Sassuolo appearance on Wednesday and it was a game in which he didn’t deserve to be on the losing side.
He was beaten three times, but two of those goals were ruled out and the one that counted came after 95 impressive minutes and it took a wicked deflected off his own defender to loop over his head and into the net.
The former Atalanta stopper had been on hand to deny Gervinho, Matteo Scozzarella, Inglese from the penalty spot and others, but in the end it wasn’t to be his night.
His penalty heroics marked his fourth penalty save of 2019, an impressive tally that is more than any other goalkeeper in Europe’s top five leagues has managed this calendar year.
