Parma vs Genoa: Winless Sides Clash in Serie A Showdown

Two of Serie A’s five winless sides walk into Ennio Tardini on Sunday with the same problem and the same fear: the season has already started to squeeze them.

Parma and Genoa have both tasted victory this year, but only in the shadows of the Coppa Italia. In the league, the table tells a harsher story.

Parma searching for a spark

Carlos Cuesta’s Parma have not won a competitive game since mid-August, when a 2-0 success over Catania in the Coppa Italia briefly hinted at a smooth transition back into top-flight life. That illusion vanished quickly.

Four defeats in their last five matches have dragged the mood down. The most worrying element has not been the defending, but the silence in attack. Parma failed to score in Serie A losses to Cagliari (1-0) and Juventus (2-0), then exited the cup with another 2-0 defeat at Cremonese at the start of September.

Only in the last two outings has there been a flicker of resistance. A 1-1 draw with Monza finally put a point on the board in gameweek four, and a narrow 2-1 defeat away to Champions League debutants Como on Monday at least showed more edge and ambition.

Cuesta has to bottle that. Parma have not beaten Genoa in three years and come into this with a four-game winless run against the Ligurian club. The Ennio Tardini crowd will not be patient forever.

He does at least have a nearly full squad. Hans Nicolussi Caviglia’s groin problem keeps him out this weekend, but that is Parma’s only confirmed absence. The real gap is not on the teamsheet but in the goals column.

With last season’s nine-goal forward Mateo Pellegrino now at Fiorentina, someone else must carry the load. So far, only Simone Lontani and David Romero have scored for Parma in Serie A after four gameweeks. Two names, two goals, and a team still trying to remember what it feels like to control a match.

Cuesta is expected to stick with a similar framework: Corvi in goal; Delprato, Troilo and Carlos forming the back three; Britschgi, Bernabe, Keita and Valeri across midfield; Toure supporting Lontani and Romero up front. The structure is there. The cutting edge is not.

De Rossi under early strain

On the opposite bench stands Daniele De Rossi, still very much a rookie coach but carrying the aura of a World Cup winner and Roma icon. The bounce he initially brought to Genoa has faded. The numbers are brutal.

Genoa have gone nine Serie A games without a win under De Rossi. Their last league victory was a 2-1 success over Pisa, who have since been relegated. Since then, six defeats and three draws have dragged the Grifone down to second-bottom after four matches of this campaign.

The midweek cup win over Sudtirol offered a brief release. It also delivered their first clean sheet of the season in any competition, a small but important step for a side that has struggled at both ends.

The league table underlines it. Genoa have scored only two goals in Serie A this season, the joint-worst tally in the division along with Parma in 17th. At the back, they have conceded eight, the fifth-worst record behind Venezia, Monza and Fiorentina (all 11) and Udinese (10).

Solve one problem and the other remains. De Rossi knows he cannot afford to choose.

Discipline has not helped. Johan Vasquez, scorer against Frosinone and the match-winner versus Sudtirol in midweek, is suspended after his red card last weekend. His absence strips Genoa of a rare source of goals and aggression from deeper areas.

Injuries add to the issues. Elias Havel (ankle) and Lorenzo Venturino (knee) are also out, limiting rotation options. The responsibility shifts to Milutin Osmajic, the only other Genoa player to score this season. His solitary strike came in a 4-1 loss to Como in early September, a reminder that he has found the net but not yet changed a game.

De Rossi is likely to send out Bijlow in goal; Marcandalli, Ostigard and Otoa as a back three; Ehizibue and Ellertsson as wing-backs; Frendrup and Sow in central midfield; Baldanzi in the pocket behind Osmajic and Colombo. On paper, it is a side with balance and legs. On the pitch, it has not yet clicked in Serie A.

There is, though, a sliver of opportunity. A win in Emilia-Romagna could lift Genoa as high as 13th, depending on other results. One result would not fix the deeper structural concerns, but it would change the air around De Rossi and his players.

Stalemate looming?

The pattern of recent meetings offers little comfort for the neutral. Parma and Genoa have drawn their last two games 0-0, and the evidence from this season points in the same direction.

Both sides are blunt in attack. Both are fragile in confidence. Both are desperate not to lose.

That combination often produces caution, not chaos. The expectation is for another low-scoring contest, with Parma trying to turn territorial control into chances and Genoa looking to spring Osmajic and Colombo on the break.

Right now, neither club needs a spectacle. They need a result.

Prediction: Parma 0-0 Genoa.

If that holds, the question will linger over both benches: how long can a season survive without a hero in front of goal?