The goal of eighth place is now a mirage

by Stefano Fogliani

SASSUOLO

He ties himself back to his worst version, the Sassuolo of May. Net of performances of much greater depth compared to much more difficult times, not least the one offered against Monza, to find the neroverdi in an impasse with one point in four matches, in fact, we go back quite a bit. In the first matches after the post-World Cup restart, when Sassuolo lost to Lazio, Fiorentina and Monza before scoring a point against Monza and ending the first leg on 17. And in the last matches before the November break, when in four the neroverdi drew one match against Roma, however giving way to Fiorentina, Napoli and Empoli.

The slowdown weighs heavily on Sassuolo who before this terrifying May, by beating Empoli at the Mapei Stadium, had risen to 43 points, just two points away from that eighth place which had never been so close and had instead become unattainable, thanks precisely to the decline which saw the neroverdi slow down noticeably. Three defeats and a draw for Sassuolo in May, who now have to make a 'row-in' to match last season's 50 points and even if they reach them, it seems destined to let go of the assault on that left column of the table which is now the prerogative of others. Patience, one might say, given that with what happened in the first leg - finishing in 17th place - it is still worth saying goodbye to the current thirteenth place of the neroverdi with the satisfaction of the case, but it doesn't escape how, after the acceleration produced from the neroverdi between February and April (23 points in 12 games) who took Dionisi's team from sixteenth to eleventh place, it was reasonable to expect something more in a final to be played without worries.

Fatigue, however, made itself felt, the blanket of a team whose second lines are not as good as the first ones have affected the rotations, those defensive limits which are and remain the 'vulnus' of the black-green playing system (56 goals conceded, in few worse than the neroverdi) they did the rest and in the last 180 minutes of the season they delivered a Sassuolo who who knows if they have the breath to run again, against Sampdoria and Fiorentina. We won't have to wait too long to find out: just a couple of weeks, after which we will begin to plan a future that the Neroverde CEO Giovanni Carnevali has already started. Confirming that he starts again from Dionysi.