Zanetti debuts at last-placed Venezia as Serie A's bottom six sit within five points

Paolo Zanetti makes his debut as Udinese coach on Friday at 20:45 at Venezia, in a meeting of the two bottom clubs in Serie A. Venezia are last on 3 points and Udinese 19th on 5; Monza (7) and Parma, Fiorentina and Sassuolo (8 each) complete a bottom six that spans only five points.

A coach who knows the opposition

Udinese sacked coach Kosta Runjaic on Monday, two days after a 5-2 home defeat by Roma. Italian news agency ANSA counted seven defeats in his last eight games, five of them in a row at home, and a single point in that run; our table shows one point from six home games this season. Zanetti signed until June 2027. He took Venezia back to Serie A in 2020-21, after 19 years away, and was sacked in April 2022; his most recent job, at Verona, ended in February.

Runjaic wrote a farewell letter to the fans. "The current sporting situation and the farewell that follows are painful for me," the departing coach wrote.

Venezia's reset has bought three points

Davide Nicola replaced Giovanni Stroppa as Venezia coach in October, after Venezia lost their first six games and took no points. In four games under Nicola they beat Napoli, then lost at Genoa, 2-0 at home to Inter (two late own goals, after two Venezia goals were ruled out for offside, ANSA reported) and 1-0 at Como on Sunday, from a penalty. All three of Venezia's points this season came at home; they have none from five away games. "It isn't enough to do things well, you have to do them better than the others," Nicola said after the Genoa defeat.

When Stroppa left, ANSA noted that no side that lost its first six Serie A games has ever stayed up, Venezia in 1949-50 among them.

The clubs just above

On Monday Fiorentina won 4-2 at Sassuolo, their first league win after five games without one, to move from 5 points to 8. Fiorentina coach Paolo Vanoli had said the day before that the game at Sassuolo was "not a turning point" but "certainly important and dangerous", and that the team needed "a spark". Parma won 3-0 at Atalanta, the first victory for Parma coach Alberto Gilardino since he replaced Carlos Cuesta on 27 September; Atalanta's Curva Nord whistled the team and coach Maurizio Sarri. Sassuolo have lost four in a row, conceding 16 goals in them, and their 26 goals against are the most in Serie A; ANSA wrote that the position of Sassuolo coach Alberto Aquilani is starting to wobble. Monza, 18th, have lost three league games in a row and four of their last five.

A weekend for all six

Every bottom-six club plays in round 11. After Friday's game, Parma host Bologna on Saturday at 18:00 and Sassuolo visit Roma, third on 24 points, at 20:45. On Sunday Monza host Atalanta at 15:00 and Fiorentina host Juventus at 20:45. A win for Udinese would take them to 8 points, level with Parma, Fiorentina and Sassuolo before those clubs play; a Venezia win would lift them to 6.

Bologna, Parma's visitors on Saturday, show what a change can do: since Raffaele Palladino replaced Domenico Tedesco as coach in September they have taken 13 points from six games, ANSA reported, and sit ninth on 14 in our table.