Correspondent of the magazine "Football" and a permanent author of Football. ua Sergey Shevchenko assesses the breakdowns in the struggle for survival.
The struggle for survival often becomes one of the main intrigues of the championship of Italy, it is enough to recall the last season and the wonderful rescue of Crotone - the touching story of David Nikola surely fell in love with the fans of Calcio. In this season, the bottoms do not attract special attention so far: the struggle for the Scudetto, the problems of Milan, nice teams like Atalanta and Sampdoria are all in the foreground. To forget about the second half of the table, however, is not worth it, especially since there was a more or less distinct picture formed by the end of the year.
A priori, we do not consider the wrestlers for the survival of the team, occupying seats from 9th to 12th (they have amicably 24 points each). Note the progress of Udinese, who could well be next to drowning, but added after the appointment of Massimo Oddo: + 4 = 0-1, including the guest victory over Inter. Friulians, by the way, still have not played a draw.
So, let's remind that three teams fly out (all directly) and start our story with Chievo.
Chievo 13 place, 21 points Veterans team, professing power football. "Flying donkeys", as a rule, occupy places in the middle of the table. Do not take off Chievo and now: the experience, teamwork and coach Rolando Maran - such trumps have no outsider. Another question is that in the near future the team is waiting for a change of generations, because six players (!) Immediately crossed the threshold of 35 years. In addition, in January the team will leave Inglese - the leading forward (7 goals), in the style of the game, the perfect Chievo. You can not always count on the enlightenment of 38-year-old Pellissier and Sorrentino. They can still pull the derby on their shoulders or stop Roma, but their years go, and the new Chievo is unlikely to be as strong.
Leaders: Sorrentino goalkeeper, Birs midfielder, Ingrese forward Forecast: will fall below, but without struggle for survival Sassuolo 14th place, 20 points The most Italian Serie A team survived the hard autumn. Sassuolo kept afloat only thanks to minimal victories over competitors, but in general, Neroverdi played much weaker than the usual level. The reason, besides the abundance of injuries, in the care of Eusebio Di Francesco. His replacement, Christian Bucca, lacked experience in working with the elite. The management corrected the error by appointing Giuseppe Yakini - this 53-year-old mentor before Sassuolo trained already five Serie A teams. The effect is very similar to the arrival of Oddo in Udinese: + 3 = 0-1, including again the victory over Inter. It is not excluded that this is a short-term splash, but it should not go down in the class of Sassuolo, according to the level of players this is the team of the middle of the table. They would still put things in order with the cadres (Berardi frankly wilts, he should have been sold for a long time) and 11-meter - Neroverdi did not realize five penalties out of seven.
Leaders: Consiria goalkeeper, defender of Acherby, attacking Politano Forecast: rise to several places Genoa 15th place, 17 points Permanent crisis. Both Genoese teams live by selling leading players, but this is much more effective for Sampdoria. Genoa for the second season in succession floundering at the bottom of the table. In the spring, even had to arrange Ivan Yurich's backstack, otherwise it would not have been Empoli. Horvath, alas, became nothing more than a crisis manager, and now the team is headed by David Ballardini, for whom it is the third coming to Genoa. It turns out not bad: + 3 = 2-1. Apparently, this time Griffins will be able to avoid the struggle for survival, because there are hidden reserves: forwards Lapadula (27 goals for Pescara in Serie B-2015/16) and Rossi - the long-suffering Giuseppe again tries to return to big football.
Leaders: goalkeeper Perin, midfielder Veloso, midfielder Lashalte Forecast: lower half of the table, without struggle for survival Cagliari 16 place, 17 points The islanders also changed the head coach during the season, very often losing the team at Massimo Rastelli. Another useful change of coach: Cagliari with Uruguayan Diego Lopez beat outsiders, plays a draw with the middle peasants and beats with the leaders with dignity. The issue of demotion in the classroom should not stand. Cagliari in composition - a strong middle peasant about the level of Bologna: the composition is as players in the prime of life (Dessena, Joao Pedro, Pavolletti), and promising guys who promise to grow into stars (Cranjo, Romagna, Barella). If Pavoletti plays at the level of last year's Borriello or himself two years ago - Cagliari will definitely rise higher.
Leaders: midfielder Barella, midfielder Joao Pedro Prediction: will rise to several places Spal 17th place, 15 points First real survival fighter. It is easier for such clubs to win Series B than to stay in Serie A. SPAL, transit through the second-ranked division, could not count on the elite in the elite only on existing players, hence the summer shake-up of the composition. Alas, not all the newcomers played: for example, 35-year-old Borriello, who scored last season as much as 16 goals for Cagliari, while only one goal was noted. Another veteran, Flokkari, who significantly strengthened SPAL last winter, did not play half the fall because of an injury. Ferrars do not give up, this is a typical coaching team, taking "their" points, but surviving Leonardo Semplich's wards can only thanks to the failures of competitors.
Leaders: midfielder Viviani, midfielder Grassi, striker Antenucci Forecast: hard struggle for survival, most likely unsuccessful Crotone 18th place, 15 points Heroes of last season. This team was predicted an inglorious sortie, but the Sharks staged an amazing final spurt, giving birth to a small beautiful legend. The new season did not bode well, but even here David Nikola's wards were worthy of showing - Croton was not in the relegation zone by the 16th round. Then the main thing happened: Nicola suddenly decided to resign. The reason, as it turned out, was interference in his affairs - the president decided to go to the locker room to cheer the team, against which the trainer categorically objected. The ridiculous story. Surprised and a new choice of leadership: Walter Zenga - mentor, whose success is very specific (the championships of Serbia and Romania), and failures are too much. Let's add that Crotone is the poorest club in Seria A, increasing primarily due to leased. This is a true outsider: the total cost of players (according to Transfermarkt), possession of the ball, the number of hits - according to these indicators Croton is inferior to everyone, even Benevento.
Leaders: goalkeeper Cordas, striker Budimir Forecast: departure Verona 19 place, 13 points Strange team. By familiar names in the composition of Verona will give odds to many middle peasants, but she plays very unstably. Sometimes it seems that things are getting better, but this is followed by crushing defeat. Often defenders are mistaken, and ahead of the eminent forwards show too low efficiency. Pazzini, who destroyed everyone in Serie B, is now not even the main. Churchy brings more benefits, but he is far from the best samples. Perhaps it's the head coach. For Fabio Pecchia, who worked as an assistant to Benitez in Napoli and Real, this is the first serious experience, and there are enough questions for him. Even in the last season, seemingly successful, Verona balanced on the brink, having obtained a direct ticket thanks to personal meetings with Frosinone, although the composition was superior to any team in the division. The leadership should think about changing the coach, and the defeat of Milan should not become an indulgence. Potentially Verontsy is stronger than Spal, but this potential still needs to be revealed.
Leaders: defender Caceres, midfielder Romulo Forecast: hard struggle for survival, most likely successful Benevento 20th place, 1 point Team that gave the main anecdote of the season: the first point, taken in the opening match of Gattuso thanks to goal goalkeeper Brignoli. Alas, this is the only reason for the joy of the Witches fans, who are already tired of suffering defeat. Change of coach improved the game, but the result does not come hard - Benevento repeatedly missed a draw at the very end. Summer reinforcement went down the drain, I can not believe that the club spent 22.5 million euros. Let's be honest: it's inappropriate to talk about the struggle for survival. The local task is to avoid the anti-record on the scoring in Serie A. With 20 teams in the league, it's 16 points (Venice-1949/50, with two for the win) and 18 points (Pescara-2016/17, three for the win). It seems that the ill-fated Witches will still go down in history.
Leaders: midfielder Cataldi, forward Chichiretti Forecast: the last place, high chances to beat the anti-record Author: Sergey Shevchenko.