Serie A’s Surprise Packages: Newly-Promoted Upstarts, a New Force in the North and a Turnaround in Tuscany

It’s still early doors in the Serie A season, but a narrative is already beginning to take shape.

Inter Milan, Napoli and Juventus look almost certain to be locked into the top three positions (order changeable, of course), while AC Milan, Roma and Atalanta look destined to slug it out for the last remaining Champions League spot and the two Europa League offerings.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the table, Monza and Venezia look in serious trouble already, with only one win from 14 games combined.

Yet there have been some surprise packages in the early rounds. Of course, whether they retain the status in the longer term remains to be seen as they could be merely enjoying a fleeting moment in the sun before returning to the mean and sliding down the table.

Here are Serie A’s surprise packages so far.

Udinese

A team that won only four games in the second half of last season has already matched that tally seven games into this. Now under the guidance of Austrian manager Kosta Runjaic, the Zebrette have been one of the high achievers in the first two months of the season. 

Udinese endured a shocking season in 2023-24, cycling through three coaches before the campaign ended in a 15th-place finish. Fabio Cannavaro took charge for the last month of the campaign, but Udinese survived relegation by a mere two points, and the World Cup winner wasn’t retained.

Runjaic took over and has made a noticeable difference.  Alternating between a 3-5-2 and a 5-3-2, he has managed to coax the best out of Frenchman Florian Thauvin, who’s had a brilliant start to the season with three goals and an assist in six games.

The Friuli outfit sit fourth in the table and gave champions Inter a major fright at the Bluenergy Stadium two weeks ago. Yet it could be argued that their position in the table has been inflated somewhat due to their relatively easy fixture list. Upcoming games against AC Milan, Atalanta and Juve should show what Udinese are about, and if they are indeed the real deal.

But one thing is certain, they’ve vastly improved since last season.

Empoli

The Tuscan outfit have been one of the biggest surprise packages in the early going. Their current 10th place position doesn’t belie how impressive they’ve been under Roberto D’Aversa. 

Where the fixture list has been kind to Udinese, the same cannot be said for Empoli. They’ve already played Roma, Fiorentina, Lazio and Juve. The 2-1 away win against Roma has been one of the biggest shocks of the season and was fully deserved. 

D’Aversa employs a variation of a 3-5-2, consistently moving chess pieces around depending on the opposition. This can morph into a 3-1-4-2 or a 3-4-2-1, but either way the result ends the same: Empoli are very hard to break down.

In fact, they were undefeated in Serie A until the last round of games, when their streak was ended by Lazio in the Stadio Olimpico and a sublime goal from the evergreen Pedro. Furthermore, D’Aversa has given Empoli more defensive solidity, with only Juventus conceding less goals.

Yet once games against Napoli and Inter are consigned to history, Empoli have a very nice run of games leading up to Christmas, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them firmly in the top-10 by the end of the year. 

Torino

The Granata found themselves top of the table at one point in the opening rounds of the season. Of course, this was never going to last, but after seven games they’re still outperforming and have been difficult to break down.

Under manager Paolo Vanoli, Toro had won three of their opening five games in Serie A, but have since suffered two defeats on the spin. The 2-1 home win over Atalanta came as a surprise to many, with Che Adams netting the winner on his first start.

Yet Torino’s season could well pivot due to the injury Duvan Zapata suffered against Inter. The Colombian had been in tremendous form, scoring three goals in seven games, but suffered a torn ACL and is set to be out for months. This could redefine Torino’s season, and now more will be expected of Che Adams in the coming months. 

Moreover, the Granata have a difficult set of games after a light start to the season. Juventus, Roma, Napoli, Fiorentina and Bologna are all on the horizon leading up to Christmas. By the end of that run of games a clearer picture should form. Yet for now Toro remain one of the surprise packages. 

Como

Most didn’t know what to expect from Como when they gained promotion to the top flight for the first time in 21 years. Cesc Fabregas’ side in Serie B was mostly a combination of youth with a dashing of experience. 

In the summer the club bought wisely and added some experience to last season’s squad, but the Lariani remained an unknown entity to many due to being mostly made up of youth players.

Results weren’t forthcoming in the opening rounds, yet against Juventus and Bologna the signs were there that they could mix it with the big boys in the top tier. The win against Atalanta at the Gewiss Stadium has been arguably the greatest surprise of the season so far, and against Napoli they gave Antonio Conte’s side a fright for 60 minutes before losing due to the Partenopei’s quality off the bench.

Nico Paz and Gabriel Strefezza have shown they can thrive in Serie A, while Alieu Fadera has demonstrated he has the raw talent to go far. Sergi Roberto has brought invaluable experience in midfield, as has Marc-Oliver Kempf in defence.

Fabregas is also learning as a relatively new manager, and has shown trusting the kids has been the right decision. Como have demonstrated that surviving in Serie A is more than achievable, and they’ll surprise people in the second half of the season.