Frosinone are in desperate need of a spark and the management took the usual route of firing the coach. Moreno Longo got the ax with his team sitting in 19th position and having collected just one win and eight total points thus far this season. They are four points behind Bologna and five behind Udinese, which, as things stand, would be the first club to avoid the drop.
After losing seven of the first eight matches, the Ciociari showed some signs of life between late October and early November, where they picked up points in four matches in a row, defeating SPAL on the road and tying with Empoli, Parma and Fiorentina. However, after that little spurt, they have been defeated in three of the last four fixtures, versus Inter, Napoli and Sassuolo, and drew with Cagliari in the remaining one.
The Gialloblù displayed the most interesting stuff when they switched to a 3-4-2-1 formation featuring their three best players together: Camillo Ciano, Joel Cambpell and Daniel Ciofani. This allowed them to score six combined goals between the Empoli and the SPAL games. However, Ciano quickly got hurt after that stretch and returned in full capacity just this last weekend. Despite the solid performances of the youngsters Francesco Cassata and Andrea Pinamonti, they were not able to recapture the same level of dangerousness on offense in the meantime.
Longo, who led them to the promotion in his second year in the pros after a long career in the Torino youth academy, got a long leash at the start of the season since he could not fully rely on their linchpin Ciofani up until October due to a severe thigh injury he suffered last April.
Marco Baroni is certainly more experienced, having coached mostly in the lower leagues since 2000, but he managed just twice in Serie A: four games as caretaker in Siena in 2009 and more importantly last season in Benevento. After a near miraculous Serie B campaign, he was fired nine games into the season since they lost in all of them. The Sanniti could not avoid the relegation despite hiring Roberto De Zerbi, which says something about the quality of that squad.
Baroni does not have a proper go-to scheme and Longo pretty much always fielded the best line-up he had at his disposal, so there might not be that many changes tactically. They certainly need to improve defensively as they have conceded 35 goals so far, which is worst in the League. It might take some January reinforcements to ameliorate there.
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