They took a while to get into gear, but Roberto De Zerbi had Sassuolo playing some fantastic football by the end of the season, writes Michelle Bonsu.
They took a while to get into gear, but Roberto De Zerbi had Sassuolo playing some fantastic football by the end of the season, writes Michelle Bonsu.
Scintillating Sassuolo
It was a solid season overall for Sassuolo, who failed to qualify for the Europa League, but ended up finishing in a creditable eighth place. The Neroverdi did endure a rocky first part of the term, kicking things off with a poor showing against Torino, and in fact had won just three games by the time December rolled around. Still, despite not fully kicking into gear, they managed to nick a point off reigning Scudetto holders Juventus and keep Milan to a scoreless stalemate at their opponents’ home grounds.
By the time 2020 rolled around, Roberto De Zerbi’s men finally started to pull their act together, notably getting revenge on both Torino and Roma for their early season defeats by beating them both by the exact same scoreline (2-1 and 4-2, respectively). The lockdown did come at a tricky time, however. Sassuolo had just started to really get up and running, and naturally, there were worries that a lengthy pause could see the team lose their rhythm once the season picked up months later.
Overall, the feeling is that had Sassuolo started off the term the way they ended it, they certainly would have made a good case for a Europa League spot.
Read the full feature as part of our 2019-20 Serie A Season Review here.