Empoli fans havent had much to cheer about this season. They crashed out of the Coppa Italia, courtesy of a 2-1 defeat to Serie B side Cittadella, and occupy one of the relegation places in Serie A at present. Their poor start to the season has been compounded by their lack of firepower, having only found the net once in the league so far this season.
The Tuscany-based side also has one of the worst defences in the division this season. Following a 7-0 rout at the hands of José Mourinhos Roma, Paolo Zanetti was given his marching orders in September 2023 to be replaced by Aurelio Andreazzoli.
This is Andreazzolis fourth stint in charge of the club, and so far, the Azzurri have been making slow progress, having found the back of the net in the league and kept two clean sheets in their last four league games under the Italian.
In this tactical analysis, we will assess Empolis poor start to the season to emphasise the contributing factors which led to Zanettis dismissal. We will also provide an analysis of the tactics imposed by Andreazzoli as he looks to steer his side to safety.
Tough Italian defences
A look at the attacking statistics makes for disappointing reading for Empoli fans. In this 2023/24 Serie A season, they are the lowest-ranked side regarding efficiency in front of goal. They have only converted 1% of their efforts on goal. However, it should be acknowledged that the defences of Italian sides are formidable to break down.
The bar chart shows that in comparison to the other top leagues in Europe this season, the average Serie A side has conceded fewer goals. Empoli, therefore, may be forgiven for an underperformance in front of goal, but not at the current scale.
The graphic shows that the Azzurri have an expected non-penalty goals tally of 7.02 but have only managed one league goal this campaign. This shows the underperformance in the final third. Moreover, considering the average Serie A side has scored 9.35 non-penalty goals this season, even if Empoli had converted the 7.02 non-penalty goals as expected, they would still have been performing below average.
In recent history, Empoli
