Assessing Cittadella’s season a third of the way in

Incredibly, we are already a third of the way through the 21/22 Serie B season. Under a new coach and new players, Cittadella has had an interesting start.

AS Cittadella are now 1/3 of the way to the finish line. Currently in 10th, new life under Edoardo Gorini has had its fair shares of ups and downs.

The Granata have tallied 20 points so far, having won six games already. Through playing style, Gorini hasn’t changed the style much since he took over from Roberto Venturato last summer.

Let’s take a look at the things we have learned so far.

Where we stand

We knew at the start of the season wins at home would be the recipe towards achieving a higher ranking. During the first seven games at home, Cittadella has came out as the winner four times, while only losing twice and a draw to their name.

Compared to last season, Cittadella won five of those opening seven home games. At this time last year, the Granata sat in 4th, three points from top spot with a game in hand. Additionally, during the 19/20 season after 13 games, Cittadella sat in 5th on 21 points.

Fast forward to the present, and Cittadella find themselves in a similar position. Though lower on the table, the team are only five points near 2nd place Pisa. It may seem frustrating or concerning, but we are roughly level on where we were in years past.

New Players Impressing

In addition to a new coach this summer, the transfer market kept running with nine new players joining Cittadella. One of those was Orji Okwonkwo, a Nigerian striker on loan from Bologna. Having previously played in North America with the Montreal Impact and spending half a season at Reggina, Okwonkwo signed for Cittadella on a year loan deal.

Okwonkwo has impressed so far, scoring 6 goals in 13 matches and looking very dangerous on the attack. Although an injury this month will put him out for the next few games, Okwonkwo’s goals have proved effective for Cittadella’s success.

Another player brought in this summer was Mirko Antonucci. Coming from a rough period in his career, Antonucci is playing like a player with a chip on his shoulder.

The ex Roma midfielder has been one of the key players this season. His stats prove it: 6 assists, 1 goal, 13 games. Not only the impressive stats, the way he plays gives Cittadella an outlet going forward. Though the goals haven’t came easily, Antonucci has had a great start to the season, and hopes to continue to help Cittadella reach their season accomplishments.

Gorini’s start as a head coach

Edoardo Gorini took the helm of Roberto Venturato when the Australian born coach packed his bags for his new adventure.

In an already well established team, and having been the assistant coach since 2014, Gorini already had a vision of what kind of football he wants to play.

Already, we can see the similar playing styles taken from Venturato: possession based, dynamic attack, and physicality on the pitch. As the season continues on, the starting eleven is being more locked up. Compared too early on when he was experimenting with different players, the rotation is getting less and less.

Consistency still remains a question for the club. Six wins is a great start, but what about those five losses? Even though we made the promotion final last year, we had 11 losses under our belt. And the season prior, we finished with 14 losses.

The less we can lose, the better chances of a higher finish. Cittadella must stop dropping points to relegation-bound teams, but then a week later beat the league leaders. Finding the right balance of when to take the draw than defeat is important, and Gorini still has to manage that problem.

After a weekend draw with Ternana, the Granata have eight matches remaining in 2021. That includes a Coppa Italia fixture with Cagliari in Sardinia!

It’s nearly impossible to predict where Cittadella will finish come Matchday 38. The table is extremely tight, and the unpredictability is off the charts.

It has been a decent start for Gorini’s men, and we are hoping for a good run of form going into the new year.