This premier league rarely has to worry about Sam Allardyce out of the mountain, relegation is still a good scene, especially Burnley has been criticized for the dismissal of Sean Deckie, but under the combined leadership of U-23 coach Michael Jackson and center-back Ben May, they have won two wins and one draw, temporarily countering Everton to flee the relegation zone. In Serie A, the situation at the end of the list is also turbulent, in addition to relegation regulars Genoa and Cagliari, the twilight Sampdoria and the recently depressed Venice, Saleny Tana, who was regarded as a relegation favorite, has won three consecutive games, and the trajectory of the desperate life is reminiscent of the magical relegation of the 2016/17 season, Crotone (F.C. Crotone) - Coincidentally, both stories were "directed" by the same coach: Davide Nicola.
The 49-year-old Nicola, who also tasted the failure of Serie A relegation in his early years, led Livorno to promotion in the 2013/14 season and could not continue, experiencing the common single season of Serie A "dismissal and re-employment", Livorno still has to be relegated at the bottom. However, he has led different teams to relegation success in the past three seasons in the same state as he took over in the middle of the season:
Udinese took over 17th place in December 2018 and finished 12th
Genoa, which took over 20th place in December 2019, finished at 17th place
Turin took over 18th place in January 2021 and finished 17th
Relegation success seems to be commonplace, but Nicora's most talked about relegation miracle is undoubtedly Crotone in 2016/17. The team's historic campaign in Serie A, but facing a number of promotion heroes scattered, as well as the home does not meet the standards of Serie A and forced to "send people under the fence" for two months, since the second week has been "stable" in the relegation zone position, after completing 29 rounds of competition only 14 points. It is rare that the team has always trusted Nicola to continue to coach, and the latter has lived up to the scrutiny, scoring 20 points in nine games at the end of the season, and even defeating Inter Milan, Lazio and Ac Milan, and finally falling behind by two points before the closing date to counter-pressure Empoli's relegation success. Nicola also fulfilled his relegation promise, cycling 1300 kilometers from southern Crotone to northern Turin, passing through a number of stopovers where he had left his mark on football, and the destination in the Turin town of Vigone, which was also the place where his 14-year-old son was accidentally killed while riding a bicycle, to greet the spirit of Aile in heaven.
Coming back to this season, although Nicora took over from Salernitana in February, along with experienced sporting director Walter Sabatini making a number of acquisitions after taking office in January, there are still not much expectations from the outside world. After all, Lazzio boss Claudio Lotito, who originally owned the team, violated the rules of the tournament that could not control two Serie A teams at the same time, and only rushed and sold it to Local businessman Danielo Iervolino before the ultimatum on December 31 last year, so that Salenitana was spared the misfortune of being expelled from Serie A, and even though French star Ribery pressed the line, the defense was full of mistakes, and also from the second round onwards. After Nicola took over, he scored only three points in his first seven games, until the recent sudden rebound at the bottom, winning Sampdoria, Udinese and Fiorentina in just 8 days, currently playing one less game and only three points away from the safe zone, and the rest of the schedule has a decisive "six-pointer" between Cagliari and Venice, and the relegation is gradually dawning.
Serie A's 2-1 victory over Fiorentina in the 34th round, Nicola was reported to be dissatisfied with defender Luca Ranieri's mistakes, giving the other side a chance to instigate a counterattack, and at one point angrily took off his shoes and threw it to the ground to declare that it had leaked, becoming the focus of the media. And he did not hesitate to use this passion to increase the "bet", threatening that if Salenitanana was successfully relegated, he would make a pilgrimage to Rome on foot to the Pope.