Football Season Guide

Having disastrously returned to Serie B following an embarrassing campaign, last year, Hellas Verona were expected to take the second flight of the Italian football by storm. They did achieve promotion in the end but it was not as easy as all the pundits might have predicted. In fact, they only seldom played good football and they looked too fragile far too often. Not too surprisingly as they ended up conceding 40 times while scoring 64. However, coach Fabio Pecchia, the not-much-loved architect of promotion, was confirmed at the helm also for their return to Serie A. He has absolutely no experience as a head coach at this level, having only been Rafa Benitez's assistant while at Napoli, Real Madrid and Newcastle. This time around, Hellas Verona tried strengthening the squad with some rather experienced players and just a few youngsters. People like Alessio Cerci, who has never repeated the wonders displayed with Torino, Thomas Heurtaux, who has not seen much of the pitch in the past couple of seasons at Udinese, and injury-prone Martin Caceres, are expected to provide quality and experience. They had also signed Antonio Cassano but he eventually decided to retire after a lot of rigmarole. The promising Daniele Verde and Gian Filippo Felicioli, who arrived on loan from Roma and Milan respectively, are also expected to earn some decent playing time. Thus, in a 4-3-3 formation, Nicolas Andrade should be in goal, with Marco Silvestri, who spent some time with Leeds United, as his deputy. Alex Ferrari or Romulo, unless he acts as a midfielder, and Samuel Souprayen could be the full-backs with Caceres and Heurtaux as the centre-backs. Antonio Caracciolo and Matteo Bianchetti should be their replacements when needed. Romulo, Bruno Zuculini, Daniel Bessa, Marco Fossati and Marcel Buchel should be contending for the three places in the middle of the park. The attack would thus see Cerci and Verde as the wingers with Giampaolo Pazzini, the top scorer of the past Serie B, as the centre-forward. Even though they did not lose any relevant players over the summer, Hellas Verona seem to be rather fragile in all the departments, especially considering that too many players are either ageing or excessively injury prone. Not too surprisingly, they are still looking for forwards and midfielders.