Duvan Esteban Zapata Banguera
Torino’s attack was the worst department and had too many players who performed less than they could. With 36 goals scored, of which one was an own goal And 17 games without being able to scoreeven with opponents who have been relegated or have struggled for survival, it was a result the 4th worst in Serie A: a placement as a team that survives by the skin of their teeth. Only Empoli did worse, 29th, who were saved at the last minute, Salernitana and Lecce, 32nd, the Campanians ended the championship in last place, relegated to Serie B and the Salentos finished in fourteenth place; Even Sassuolo, 43, and Frosinone, 44, both relegated teams, did better. The 17 games without scoring with 9 draws (Cagliari, Verona, Frosinone return, Genoa, Salernitana, Fiorentina, Juventus, and Bologna) and 8 defeats (Lazio return, Juventus, Inter return, Bologna, Fiorentina and Atalanta) they determined The fail to score more than 53 points and the place to the 9th place without reaching the play-offs for the Conference League.
The best scorer was Zapata with 12 goals, followed by Sanabria with 5, Vlasic, Radonjic, Buongiorno and Ilic (he also scored a goal in the Italian Cup) with 3 each, while Pellegri, Savva, Bellanova, Ricci, Schuurs and Rodriguez with 1. To these must be added Vojvoda and Zima who each scored a goal in the Italian Cup. The networks made from role attackers they were 18 out of 36only the half of the entire loot.
It certainly didn’t help that Zapata arrived only after the championship had already started two games and that a second starting attacking midfielder wasn’t brought in and furthermore Vlasic was only brought back on 8 August when the training camp in Pinzolo had ended twelve days ago and the The team was already preparing for the first official match of the season, the Italian Cup match against Feralpisalò on 14 August. All this then forced Juric to change the formation from his usual 3-4-2-1 to 3-4-1-2. And that in the January transfer window and only at the end, despite knowing that the team was struggling to score, Okereke arrived on loan from Cremonese, a team that played in Serie B, and the young player (he turned 20 on January 1st) Kabic, from Red Star Belgrade to replace Radonjic, Seck and Karamoh who went out on loan. Overall the midfield deserves a 5 as a RATING.
Zapata He embraced Torino’s cause and immediately put his experience and ability at the service of the team. After having suffered due to physical problems in the last two years at Atalanta, he has shown that he is not yet an attacker to be sent into retirement as demonstrated by the 12 goals he scored with the grenade shirt and another he scored before joining Torino . He also has four assists to his credit. In many matches he actually supported the weight of the attack alone and many times was not adequately supplied, even though he created a good feeling with Bellanova who provided him with five assists. He did not lack his support even in the covering phase and on more than one occasion he was seen retreating right into his own area to take advantage of his powerful physique. If he hadn’t arrived, Torino would probably have risked, if not fighting to avoid relegation, than just managing to stay just above the most dangerous area of the table. He dropped a bit in the last part of the championship, but it’s normal having pushed the barge all season. RATING: 7.5
Sanabria He was called upon to repeat the previous season in which he had scored 12 goals, the best tally of his career, but he was unable to do the same and in fact only scored five goals. As Juric said on 28 July at the end of the retreat in Pinzolo “he suffered during the retreat and still doesn’t have the freshness that attackers need to be lively” and then with the arrival of Zapata he entered a bit of a crisis. With the move to two strikers he had the opportunity to form the starting forward pair with Duvan, but despite not sparing his effort and sacrificing himself even in the coverage phase, he was unable to return to the levels of the previous season, especially in the second part when he started scoring consistently. In his partial defense it must be said that Juric revealed, on December 15, that he suffered from tendinitis and for a long time he trained and played with this problem which also tormented him for a good part of the second half of the championship. He doesn’t always find himself in the right place at the right time and is a little lacking in accuracy when he shoots on goal. RATING: 5+
Pilgrims He had to learn to manage his body in training to prevent injuries from happening to him as had happened many times in previous seasons. And then he found himself a little closed off by Zapata and Sanabria. Only in the last few championship games did he have more space and his goal, unfortunately the only one, was still decisive for the victory over Verona. He undoubtedly needs to play continuously to avoid remaining a promising player in Italian football. He has room for improvement given that he is 23 years old and above all he must learn not to overdo it and to avoid committing too many fouls because this penalizes him. SCORE: 6-, which serves as a stimulus for his career
Vlasic Strongly re-wanted by Juric, perhaps also because he knew that the company would not invest in other more expensive profiles, he has always worked very hard and even sacrificed, however his performances have been fluctuating. Undoubtedly when he is on a matchday he knows how to make the team play well, while if he isn’t he sometimes runs in vain. Above all, he lacked incisiveness in the last pass, as demonstrated by only two assists, and he scored few goals: three. RATING: 5.5
Radonjic No one disputes his talent for extraordinary plays as he exploits his ability to leap over man and knows how to shoot on goal, but not exploiting it is a serious fault. He had started the season well by scoring three goals, one decisive for the victory in the match against Genoa and two against Salernitana which earned him another victory, it’s a shame that he then once again entered into a collision course with Juric, who had already given him so many chances in the previous season. He thus ended up on the sidelines until he was loaned to Mallorca in January, and even there he didn’t do who knows what, as had already happened to him in all the teams before his arrival at Turin. RATING: 4.5.
Seck He was unable to exploit the trust that Juric gave him and in addition to off-field issues, accusations of revenge porn and a car accident that occurred at 3 am when a professional athlete should be sleeping in his bed, led him to be loaned to Frosinone in January, but he didn’t do much with the Ciociari either. He runs, but lacks precision in his passes. He is 23 years old and therefore has room for improvement, but he must want to exploit it. RATING: 5
Karamoh He wasn’t able to make an impact and carve out space for himself and so in January he was sent on loan to Montpellier, who won’t buy him out so he wasn’t convincing there either. Sometimes he attacks the space, but other times he gets lost and his passes and shots on goal are not always precise. RATING: 5
Okereke As soon as he arrived in Turin in January he showed something in his first match against Udinese, where he interacted with Zapata, but then he gradually lost himself and Juric almost never used him again. He happens to be separated from the game. He will return to Cremonese.RATING: 5
Kabic He has only ever been on the bench and once played for the Primavera. VOTE: not judgeable
Savva As a Primavera player he convinced Juric to let him make his Serie A debut in the match against Verona on 12 May, coming on in the 69th minute taking Bellanova’s place and he also scored eight minutes later, equalizing the score with Swiderski’s goal, thus paving the way for his team’s victory was then obtained thanks to Pellegri’s subsequent goal. RATING: 6.5, a good omen for your career.
