Sassuolo always seemed destined to struggle after losing the man who had made them renowned in Italy - Eusebio Di Francesco. The coach left to join Roma after working wonders at the club, taking them from obscurity to an established top flight side. On paper, Sassuolo actually finished one position higher than they did in Di Francesco's final season but that didn't tell the story of a difficult campaign of transition.
Cristian Bucchi was a rather surprise choice as the new manager and the Neroverdi fans who were used to seeing brave attacking football under the previous regime were to be disappointed by the new style. He lost 9 of his first 14 games in charge and the team failed to score in half of those matches.
Unsurprisingly, Brocchi was dismissed with the club facing a relegation battle and Beppe Iachini was drafted in. Sassuolo's form briefly improved but the style of football didn't. Then a run of ten games without a win from around the turn of the year put them right back in trouble. In the end, the Neroverdi were able to revive their fortunes again and amass enough points to survive. A couple of excellent wins, including victory at Inter Milan, saw them finish in a flattering 11th place.
The biggest change in Sassuolo was clearly their style of play. In Di Francesco's last season, they were the highest scorers in the bottom half of the table but they had the lowest tally of goals in the entire league this time around.
Domenico Berardi looked a shell of the player that was being touted around several big clubs a couple of seasons ago. Alessandro Matri is never going to be a prolific striker and Diego Falcinelli left in January having only scored three times. There was one bright spark in an otherwise fairly blunt attack and that was Matteo Politano. He was also set to leave in the winter transfer window but Sassuolo were mightily relieved that he stayed in the end. They may very well have gone down without his contribution of goals and assists.
Iachini was brought in to do a job and save the club from relegation. He succeeded in doing that but will he be given full backing by the club in the summer transfer market?
