It's time to pray for Hellas Verona
Are the Gialloblu doomed?
Mateo Retegui shifts his direction, dropping the shoulder and latching onto a Martin de Roon cutback cross to slot home his fourth of the afternoon and Atalanta’s fifth. The current top goalscorer in the league had three before half-time, answering to Moise Kean’s brace midweek.
Whilst Retegui was the star of the show, this game mounted pressure on Paolo Zanetti and Verona as they slip closer and closer to the swamp that is the relegation battle as weeks go by.
They currently sit in 14th place, only three points above Parma, and have the worst goal difference in the league, having conceded an incredible 53 goals so far. Parma are second on the list with 42. This 0-5 loss to Atalanta follows on from a 6-1 loss in the reverse fixture, meaning 11 of those goals conceded have come from La Dea. Add in Inter’s battering of them at the Bentegodi in November, a 3-0 loss against Juventus and a 4-1 hammering against Empoli and you can start to see why their goal difference is so abysmal. They even suffered a 3-0 loss at the hands of Monza, who are doomed beyond repair it seems sitting in 20th place with 13 points, albeit Verona put things right when they beat the Lombardy-based club 1-0 last week.
The 3-0 win against Antonio Conte’s Napoli on the first game of the season seems a lifetime away for Verona. Luckily, they’ve been able to pick up some good results here and there. They’ve won seven so far this season, including a win against Roma as well as Bologna, Genoa and Venezia. It’s these foundations that are currently keeping them alive in Serie A but when you watch them play, the signs are worrying that the Gialloblu may freefall into relegation to Serie B if something doesn’t change.
Calls for Paolo Zanetti’s sacking are getting louder and louder. Is it a knee-jerk reaction to a heavy defeat? I don’t know. But what I do know is that they play some terrible football and often fall like a pack of cards at the first sign of struggle, which explains why their defence is so leaky.
To give Zanetti some words of support, I don’t think all of this season’s problems lie at his door. The club sold key midfielder and young prospect Reda Belahyane to Lazio in January, as well as Dani Silva and Giangiacomo Magnani, leaving the first team and wider squad somewhat lacking. The club brought in c€14 million worth of deals in the winter window, only spending c€1million. The disparity between outgoings and incoming is alarming for a club right in the thick of the survival battle, although this is how Verona is run year after year, it seems.
The silver lining for Verona this week is that Monza, Venezia, Empoli, Parma, Como and Empoli all lost, leaving Verona in 15th. The big question is - are Verona better than at least three teams this season? My answer would be: yes. I can confidently say that Monza are doomed, regardless of the fact they’ve brought back Alessandro Nesta. Venezia show no signs of improving and selling their main man Joel Pohjanpalo may be a catastrophic decision. They’re linked with Wissam Ben Yedder, though, which is a disgrace due to his history. All in all, I am confident Verona will survive this season but they’re showing progressively worsening traits which is sure to have their fans worried.
The 10 Italian Icons Who Put Their Little-Known Clubs on The Map
Feature for Destination Calcio by me.
Italian football is steeped in romance. For some reason, out of all the countries in the world, the game emanating from Europe’s boot oozes it more than others.
Milan, Turin, Naples and Rome sit as the focal points of the outside gaze on calcio, home to the most historic and successful teams in the country.
The northern trio of Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan along with Napoli in the south and the Eternal City duo of Roma and Lazio are the six biggest clubs in the land, based in four of the biggest cities. With that comes a shadow cast over the rest of the country.
I decided to do some logo tees purely on the basis I like the idea of a tee with this on. Available now.
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