Serie B’s Strugglers: Sampdoria and Palermo Flatter to Deceive as Frosinone Flirt With Disaster

With the second international break in the rearview mirror, a number of teams in Serie B will be hoping the return to league football brings with it a much-needed improvement in performances.

Two of the favourites for promotion – Sampdoria and Palermo – have been consistently inconsistent throughout the first eight matches of the season, while further down the table the likes of Frosinone, Cosenza, Catanzaro, Cittadella and Carrarrese are already showing worrying signs for their prospects of avoiding the drop.

Here, Destination Calcio looks at four teams that have underwhelmed in Serie B so far this season.

Sampdoria

Eleven points behind league leaders Pisa and three adrift of fourth place after just eight matches, with already four defeats to their name.

Numbers may not tell the whole story, but they paint a pretty grim picture as far as Sampdoria are concerned.

Andrea Sottil replaced Andrea Pirlo at the helm after the former Juventus manager was sacked following two defeats in the first three matches, but the Blucerchiati have remained frustratingly inconsistent.

A stalemate draw against Bari in Sottil’s first game in charge was followed by defeat against bottom dwellers Cosenza, before wins against Sudtirol and Modena coupled with victory in the Derby della Lanterna in the Coppa Italia suggested Sampdoria had turned a corner.

Any growing optimism, however, evaporated in a flash as the Blucerchiati relinquished a one-goal lead to lose at home to Juve Stabia before the international break.

And yet, despite being just three points clear of the relegation zone, Sampdoria are also only one point adrift of the final play-off berth, thanks to their action-packed 5-3 victory over Cesena this weekend.

The return from injury of Pajtim Kasami and Barcelona academy product Estanis Pedrola is a timely boost for Sottil, who desperately needs Gennaro Tutino to fire on all cylinders. There are signs he’s starting to find some form after scoring against Cesena – his third of the campaign to date.

His strike partner and fellow summer signing Massimo Coda has fared better, with four goals so far. In Tutino and Coda, Sampdoria have an attacking duo with a combined 300 Serie B goals under their belt. That alone should give Sottil some hope.

Cittadella

Edoardo Gorini will go down in Cittadella’s history, albeit for reasons he would rather forget. Earlier this month, the 50-year-old became the first Granata manager to be sacked during the season in almost three decades, bringing his three-year spell in charge of the club to an end.

Gorini led Cittadella to safety last season, but two wins in the first eight matches of the season, including a run of three consecutive defeats leading into the international break, left the Veneto club no choice.

The Granata have now won just three of their last 14 Serie B matches stretching all the way back to the beginning of April and are 18th in the Serie B table just two points clear of Cosenza, who are currently second bottom of the pile following a four-point penalty.

Cittadella have the second worst defensive record Serie B alongside with Frosinone, an issue compounded by having the worst attack in the league with just five goals scored in eight outings – the club’s worst record in the division since they scored just once in the first seven fixtures of the 2008-09 season.

Back then, they still managed to avoid relegation, largely thanks to Riccardo Meggiorini’s 18 goals. The Granata lack a striker of that calibre and new manager Alessandro dal Canto has no room for error.

Palermo

Yes, Palermo went into the international break ninth on the table and out of the play-offs picture on goal difference alone, but is that really enough for a team with far loftier aspirations?

City Football Group spent over €10m (£8.5m) on players this summer as the Rosanero look to return to Serie A for the first time in seven years, but the investment is yet to deliver.

Under Alessio Dionisi, Palermo have lacked a precise identity so far. After opening the season with away defeats against Brescia and Pisa, the Sicilians have put together a run of three consecutive wins away from home followed by a 2-2 draw in Modena.

But their fine form on their travels has been undermined by a dismal return of two points in three home matches, in which Palermo have scored just twice.  

After Salernitana won at the Renzo Barbera before the international break, visitors boss Giuseppe Martusciello suggested the Rosanero were being held back by their own pitch.

“The surface at the Barbera is not up to the standards required by a team like Dionisi’s,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport.

“And it’s affecting their performance.”

Dionisi proved to be an astute manager at Sassuolo and in the likes of Roberto Insigne and last season’s club top scorer Matteo Brunori he has two of the best forwards in the division.

But the latter has only one goal to his name this season, while the former has found the net three times. With the pitch at the Barbera likely to remain a problem for the foreseeable future, Dionisi needs the pair to start scoring consistently if Palermo are to climb up the table.

Frosinone

Relegated to Serie B on the final day of last season, Frosinone were expected to be in the mix for the play-offs, if not downright automatic promotion contenders.

But Italy’s second tier waits for nobody and the Canaries have just six points to show after nine games, on the back of a solitary win and the division’s worst defensive record. They currently sit rock-bottom of the second tier.

Vincenzo Vivarini’s squad remains talented enough to harbour lofty ambitions, but consecutive relegations aren’t that uncommon as Crotone in 2022 and Benevento in 2023 can attest to.

History provides a cautionary tale for Frosinone and for Vivarini, who has switched form 3-4-2-1 to 4-2-3-1 and more recently 4-3-3 in a bid to spark his side into life.

So far his changes have delivered little results, although the Canaries’ only win came when Vivarini first switched to three men upfront against Cittadella two weeks ago.