Parma vs Genoa: Serie A Strugglers Clash for First Win
Two of Serie A’s strugglers walk into the same storm on Sunday. Only one of them might walk out with a first league win.
At the Ennio Tardini, Parma and Genoa — both still winless in Serie A this season — collide in gameweek five, each trying to drag themselves out of an early-season rut that already feels heavier than the table suggests.
Two teams stuck in neutral
Parma’s season has not so much stalled as spluttered. Carlos Cuesta’s side have not tasted victory since mid-August, when they beat Catania 2-0 in the Coppa Italia. Since then: four defeats in five across all competitions, and a lingering sense of a team searching for a spark.
The numbers tell the story. Parma failed to score in league losses to Cagliari (1-0) and Juventus (2-0), then went out of the cup with another 2-0 defeat, this time to Cremonese at the start of September. Every missed chance has seemed to tighten the tension.
There has been a flicker of life. Matchday four brought their first Serie A point of the campaign, a 1-1 draw with Monza. That was followed by a battling 2-1 loss to Champions League debutants Como on Monday night, a narrow defeat but at least one with some attacking intent.
Cuesta will cling to those small signs. Parma have not beaten Genoa in three years and are winless in their last four meetings with the Ligurian club. Ending that run, in front of their own fans, would feel like a reset.
De Rossi’s Genoa searching for a pulse
On the other bench, Daniele De Rossi is trying to stop a slide of his own.
Genoa arrive in Emilia-Romagna on the back of a morale-boosting midweek cup win over Sudtirol, but that result sits awkwardly beside their league form. Under the former World Cup winner, the Rossoblu are on a nine-match winless streak in Serie A.
Their last league victory? A 2-1 success over Pisa, who have since dropped out of the division. Since then, six defeats, three draws, and a steady drift towards the bottom. After four matches of the new campaign, Genoa are second-bottom.
The issues are obvious and brutal. Only two league goals scored — the joint-worst record in the division, level with Parma in 17th. At the other end, eight goals conceded: the fifth-worst defensive record, with only Venezia, Monza and Fiorentina (11 each) and Udinese (10) leaking more.
The table offers a strange kind of hope. If results elsewhere fall their way, a win on Sunday could lift Genoa as high as 13th. But that jump depends on a team that has struggled at both ends suddenly finding clarity in both boxes.
They do at least have a platform. Their midweek outing brought a first clean sheet of the season in any competition. Now the question is whether that shutout was an isolated moment or the start of something more solid.
Team news: thin margins, missing pieces
Cuesta’s selection headache is mercifully light. Hans Nicolussi Caviglia is out with a groin problem and will miss the weekend, Parma’s only confirmed absentee.
The bigger concern is not who is missing, but who is gone. Last season’s nine-goal forward Mateo Pellegrino now plays for Fiorentina, leaving Parma short of a proven match-winner in the final third. So far, only Simone Lontani and David Romero have scored for the hosts in Serie A after four gameweeks. That statistic hangs over this fixture.
Genoa’s problems are more scattered. Johan Vasquez, who scored against Frosinone and then struck the winner against Sudtirol in midweek, is suspended after picking up two yellow cards last weekend. His absence removes not just a defender, but one of the few players in form in front of goal.
Elias Havel (ankle) and Lorenzo Venturino (knee) are also sidelined, further limiting De Rossi’s options.
That puts extra weight on Milutin Osmajic. With Vasquez out, Osmajic stands as Genoa’s only other goalscorer this season. His lone strike came in early September’s 4-1 defeat to Como. He needs service. Genoa need him to be ruthless.
Likely lineups
Parma possible starting XI:
Corvi; Delprato, Troilo, Carlos; Britschgi, Bernabe, Keita, Valeri; Toure, Lontani; Romero.
Genoa possible starting XI:
Bijlow; Marcandalli, Ostigard, Otoa; Ehizibue, Frendrup, Sow, Ellertsson; Baldanzi; Osmajic, Colombo.
Prediction: tension over thrills
Everything about this matchup points in the same direction: caution, nerves, and two sides terrified of making the first mistake.
Both have scored just twice in the league. Both have built recent performances more on survival than swagger. Their last two meetings ended 0-0, and the patterns of this season do little to suggest a sudden goal rush.
Parma 0-0 Genoa.
If that stalemate plays out again, the bigger question will not be about Sunday’s point, but about how long either club can afford to live without a win.
