Inside Bologna: Italiano’s Tactics, Transfer Window and Best Players

Four months are a long time in football, just ask Bologna. In May, the Rossoblu celebrated a historic qualification to the Champions League after finishing fifth in Serie A. It wasn’t quite Leicester City winning the Premier League, but in an era where big clubs operate on a completely different playing field from their rivals, this was as a big a shock as Serie A had witnessed in a long while.

Fast forward to September, however, and Bologna find themselves third-bottom in the table going into the international break, with just two goals to their name and five against. Motta is gone and has taken his attacking brand of football with him to Juventus, while Joshua Zirkzee and Riccardo Calafiori have swapped Serie A for the Premier League, joining Manchester United and Arsenal respectively.

Bologna have been active in the transfer market this summer but Vincenzo Italiano, Motta’s successor, has already lost a number of new arrivals to injuries, with Martin Erlic, Nicolo Casale and Nicolo Cambiaghi all sidelined.

Crucially, Italiano has also lost Lewis Ferguson to an ACL injury, which will keep the Scotsman, who was voted Serie A’s best midfielder last season, out until January at least.

But while the amount of injuries to key players is a mitigating factor, there’s no denying Bologna have underwhelmed under Italiano so far. The Felsinei’s build-up play has been laborious and their sterile possession has failed to translate into chances, let alone goals.

Home draws against Udinese and Empoli have bookended a 3-0 shellacking at the hands of Napoli, in which Bologna looked disjointed rather than the brilliantly organised side that won 68 points last season.

Motta was always a tough act to follow and Italiano needs time, but with the Champions League campaign getting underway after the international break he may not get it.

Transfers: It’s been a busy summer for Bologna, largely because of a number of high-profile departures. Joshua Zirkzee joined Manchester United for €42.5m (£36m) and Riccardo Calafiori followed him to the Premier League, signing for Arsenal in a €45m deal. Marko Arnautovic joined Inter Milan for €8m after spending last season on loan at the San Siro.

On the arrivals front, the Rossoblu spent a combined €25m on two new strikers in the shape of Thijs Dallinga and Nicolo Cambiaghi, who arrived from Toulouse and Atalanta respectively. The defence was bolstered by the signings Martin Erlic and Emil Holm from Sassuolo and Spezia for €7m each, while the loan signings of Matteo Pobega and Samuel Iling-Junior are intriguing moves.

Best performers: Remo Freuler has been one of the few bright notes for Bologna so far this season after making his loan move from Nottingham Forest permanent in the summer. The Swiss remains a key figure in a midfield unable to generate chances. Up front, Riccardo Orsolini has looked the liveliest of a so far misfiring band of forwards.

Tactics: Italiano has alternated between 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 in the opening three rounds of the season, but he’s yet to square the circle from a tactical standpoint. Bologna were thrashed 3-0 by Napoli when they set out in a 4-3-3, so don’t expect Italiano to return to that system anytime soon. The problem for the former Fiorentina manager is that his preferred 4-2-3-1 has so far stifled Bologna’s creativity, with chances hard to come by and goals an even rarer sight – just two in the opening three fixtures.