Football Season Guide

In their centennial history, Crotone had never gone further than the 6th place in Serie B in 2013/2014, when they failed to reach the top tier of the Italian football through the play-offs. Thus, they made some sensation in the past campaign when they eventually reached promotion to the Serie A, often leading the league thanks to a spectacular and offensive football. Unfortunately for them, the architect of their triumph, Juric, left for Genoa over the summer and, together with the coach, a whole group of protagonists of the past season returned to their parent clubs due to the end of their loans. The management chose Davide Nicola as the new man at the helm. His experience in Serie A is a limited and not particularly positive one as he led Livorno to relegation. Then, a whole bunch of players arrived in order to replace Balasa, Ricci, Budimir, Yao and Garcia, to name a few of the departed ones. Working on a limited budget, Crotone opted for some promising youths, such as Gnahore, who is back from a heavy injury after doing wonders in Lega Pro, Sampirisi, a solid defender, and Capezzi, and a group of more seasoned players in need of redemption, such as Mesbah, Mazzarani and Tonev, whose past campaign was not a memorable one. Nicola, who usually adopts a 3-5-2 or 4-3-3 system of play, could maintain the 3-4-3 formation that gave the Sharks their promotion. The starting eleven will be heavily reshaped, though, due to the departures of several key players. Cordaz should be confirmed in goals with Dos Santos, Ferrari, as long as he is not sold in the next days, and Ceccherini as the centre-backs; Sampirisi and Martella could act on the flanks of the midfield with Capezzi and the newly-arrived Rohdén in the middle of the park; Tonev, or Nalini, and Simy should join Palladino in the forward three.