It’s hard to read too much into league positions before September ends but the Serie B table is telling a familiar tale just three games in.

Once again, alarm bells are ringing loud and clear for basement-boys Sampdoria and their manager is feeling the heat.

At the other end, four teams set the pace, with Modena, Frosinone, Cesena and Palermo joint top on seven points.

We’ll deal with Samp, appropriately, at the bottom of the page.

Meanwhile, under Filippo Inzaghi, Palermo finally appear ready to live up to expectations as they look to return to Serie A for the first time in nine years. The former Pisa boss has taken just one summer to mould this team into his vision and the early signs are positive.

They began the campaign as favourites to go up and have walked the walk so far, disposing of Reggiana and Sudtirol either side of a draw at home against Frosinone.

Summer signings Emmanuel Gyasi and Tommaso Augello have slotted straight into the starting XI, with Matteo Brunori deployed in a slightly more withdrawn role in support of Joel Pohjanpalo. The Finland international has been a key cog in his side’s fine start with three goals in as many outings.

It is a record reminiscent of the start of his adventure in Sicily, when he netted nine in his first nine following that January switch from Venezia.

If Pohjanpalo’s goals are crucial for Palermo’s promotion hopes, defensive solidity will be just as important. 

Pisa finished with the second-most prolific attack and the second-best defence in Serie B last term and Inzaghi spoke at length of his desire to control games with Palermo.

“I can’t wait to fill the Renzo Barbera and show other teams just how difficult it is to play against us,” he said. In that respect, the Rosanero’s two clean sheets in three games are clearly a step in the right direction.

Their most recent triumph, 2-0 at Sudtirol, marked Palermo’s first away win in five months and the first time since 1977 they won their first game of the season away from the Renzo Barbera. But Inzaghi is well aware the road to Serie A is long.

“We have to keep this mentality until May,” he said. “We know how good we are. If we had just turned up with our talent, we would have lost. We can’t rely on talent alone, we have to be prepared to make it a fight.”

Encouragingly for him, the Rosanero have margins for improvement, chiefly in the name of Antonio Palumbo. A £2m signing from Modena in the summer, the 29-year-old is yet to start, with Inzaghi still to find his best position.

If Palermo are biding their time with their star signing, Modena haven’t skipped a beat without their influential playmaker.

Palumbo was Modena’s chief creator and most reliable finisher with 10 assists and nine goals last season, but in the summer Andrea Sottil suggested his departure would not be a setback for the Canaries.

And so far he has been proved right, with Modena boasting best goal difference in the division.

Speaking to La Gazzetta dello Sport recently, Sottil declared himself perfectly happy with his squad.

“The squad was meticulously planned and studied down to the smallest detail,” he said. “My vision is perfectly in sync with the club’s, and I believe we’ll be a highly competitive side. We have signed all our targets.”

After a third consecutive mid-table finish, Modena have indeed left no stone unturned in their bid to make the play-offs.

The centre-back pair of Bryant Nieling and Davide Adorni have shored up the defence, while Francesco Zampano and Luca Zanimacchia added dynamism and threat out wide.

Finland Under-21 international Niklas Pyyhtia has impressed after arriving on loan from Bologna, while Francesco Di Mariano has added a different dimension to the attack off the bench.

Only three teams in the top half of the table scored fewer than Modena’s 48 goals last season, while Sudtirol was the only team in the top half who conceded more than the 50 they let in.

But Modena have been transformed under Sottil, scoring six goals – the most in the division alongside Cesena – and conceding just one.

A year ago, Sottil replaced Andrea Pirlo in charge of Sampdoria after three matches, but never managed to get a tune out of his team and was jettisoned after 13 games with the Blucerchiati 15th in the table.

But his Modena side are built exactly to his image, as he noted after they thrashed Bari 3-0 on Saturday.

“We are working hard to implement my philosophy, having built a team to play a specific brand of football,” he said.

They have dominated opponents from a physical standpoint and Sottil dismissed concerns his players may struggle to keep up with his demanding style for nine months.

“Does this worry me in the medium to long term? No, on the contrary, it’s something I’m pleased about, and it’s exactly what I had set out to do.”

If Sottil has little room for concern, the same goes for Michele Mignani and Cesena, who continue to defy the odds in their second season back in Serie B.

They reached the play-offs last season, losing to Catanzaro, and while some of their rivals embarked on extensive overhauls in the summer, they opted for minimal tweaks. 

The approach has paid off with away wins against Pescara and Sampdoria either side of a draw at home to Virtus Entella, in which they conceded an injury-time equaliser.

Better still for the Bianconeri, Cristian Shpendi has already scored twice in three fixtures, replicating his early-season form from last term, when he scored 10 in his first 15 appearances. 

The Albania Under-21 international netted just once between December and the end of the season and if Cesena are to mount another play-offs tilt they will need him to keep scoring, particularly with fixtures against promotion contenders Venezia, Palermo and Frosinone to come over the next couple of weeks.

And so to Sampdoria. Their crisis hit a new low on Saturday after defeat by Cesena at Marassi left the them bottom of the table – one of only three teams across the 100 that make up professional football in Italy yet to win a point this term (Lumezzane and Siracusa in Serie C are the other two).

When he was appointed in the summer Massimo Donati had promised “great things”, as Samp looked to banish memories of a disastrous season.

“You’re getting a coach who’s hungry, driven, and eager to make his mark. And those same traits need to be passed on to the team,” he said.

“The main goal is that the team, coach, squad, all of us, we need to pull everyone together. That’s key because if we can become one unit, club, technical staff, players, and fans, then I believe we can achieve great things.”

But three games in and Donati’s words appear hopelessly naive, with his team displaying all the issues that afflicted them last season under Pirlo, Sottil and Leonardo Semplici.

The 44-year-old already looks to be a dead man walking and on Saturday suggested the club may need to make a managerial change to stop the rot.

“I believe the people at the club need to evaluate what my staff and I are doing on the field. If they don’t think it’s good, it’s only right that they make a change,” he said.

“I always feel my position is in question, even before the season starts.”