Inside Torino: Vanoli’s Tactics, Transfer Window and Best Players

Torino’s season so far has been the proverbial tale of two halves. The Granata hit the ground running in Paolo Vanoli’s first campaign in charge, winning three of and drawing two of their first five fixtures to briefly return to the top of the league for the first time in 47 years.

Not even in the glory years of Emiliano Mondonico in the early 1990s had Torino sat atop of the Serie A after five matches. While not even the most optimistic of Granata fans – a rarity in itself – would have expected the run to continue, few could have foreseen the drastic decline that has unfolded over the past two months.

Toro have lost six of their last eight matches, with their only win in that period coming against Como on October 25, a run of result that has left them 11th in Serie A, 10 points adrift of sixth placed Juventus.

The rut is largely down to a chronic lack of goals.

Adam Masina’s goal in the 1-1 draw against Monza at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday was the first time Torino had found the net since Alieu Njie scored the winner against the Lariani a month earlier.

Only three of the teams above Torino in the table – Bologna, Udinese and Empoli – have scored fewer goals than their 16 in 13 matches, but all three have a game in hand over the Granata.

The attacking struggles have been exacerbated by the cruciate ligament injury Duvan Zapata sustained in October, which has effectively ruled him out for the remainder of the campaign.

Toro’s biggest signing of the summer at €8.6m (£7.2m), the Colombian scored three times in the first seven matches before his debut season on the banks of the River Po ended prematurely.

Fellow summer signing Che Adams has also scored three times since joining on a free transfer from Southampton, while Antonio Sanabria has two to his name.

The problem for Vanoli is that the next most prolific goalscorers are centre-backs Saul Coco and Masina with two and one goal respectively.

“Our impressive start to the season didn’t lead us astray,” Vanoli said after the defeat against Juventus two weeks ago.

“We’ve always kept our feet on the ground and haven’t set our sights too high. What matters now is to reset and start picking up points again: our season really begins after the break.”

That beginning was far from auspicious as Torino were booed off the pitch after drawing against Monza, the feel-good factor of the first two months of the season having all but evaporated.

But Vanoli remains confident he and his team retain the support of the fans, whose protests against owner Urbano Cairo show no sign of stopping.

“I’ve trained the lads to be focused on the pitch,” he explained. “The fans need to be even closer to us, and I’m convinced they will.”

Transfers: Torino spent around €25m (£21m) on players this summer, a relatively significant amount by Serie A standards. Over half of the outlay went on signing Duvan Zapata from Atalanta and centre-back Saul Coco from LaLiga side Las Palmas, while fellow defender Sebastian Walukiewicz arrived from Empoli for €5m.

Che Adams signed from Southampton on a free transfer, while Marcus Pedersen and Borna Sosa joined on loan from Feyenoord and Ajax respectively.

Torino were also busy on the departures front, with Alessandro Buongiorno and Raoul Bellanova joined Napoli and Atalanta respectively for a combined €55m.

Best performers: Considering Torino have the worst defensive record of any of the top-12 teams in Serie A, including Vanja Milinkovic-Savic in this category may seem counterintuitive. And yet, the table could look far worse for the Granata if it wasn’t for the Serbian goalkeeper, who has twice won the Man of the Match award this season.

At the opposite end of the pitch, Duvan Zapata and Che Adams have both scored three times, while Valentino Lazaro has delivered a team-high four assists but continues to blow hot and cold. Saul Coco, meanwhile, has so far repaid the €7.5m fee Torino spent in the summer, contributing at both ends of the pitch as he leads the team in interceptions and clearances per game according to WhoScored data and has already scored twice.

Tactics: Vanoli has stuck to his preferred 3-5-2 this season, with Saul Coco, Guillermo Maripan and Adam Masina the regular back three in front of Vanja Milinkovic-Savic. The injury to Duvan Zapata has meant Che Adams and Antonio Sanabria have become the starting duo upfront, with Karol Linetty and Gvidas Gineitis anchoring the midfield, where Marcus Pedersen and Valentino Lazaro have been regular starters on the flanks.