18 October 2019
10th in the standings with nine points, Bologna this season have so far won two games, lost as many and drew on three occasions. Their goal difference is zero as a result of nine goals scored and nine conceded.
THE SQUAD
Against Juventus on Matchday 8 in the the championship, there will be no Gary Medel, after the midfielder was sent off in the last round against Lazio in the 2-2 at the Dall'Ara. The Chilean is one of the club's many summer purchases together with Mattia Bani (from Chievo), Stefano Denswil (Bruges), Takehiro Tomiyasu (Sint-Truiden), Jerdy Schouten (Excelsior) and Skov Olsen (Nordsjælland).
Sinisa Mihajlović usually lines his team up with the 4-2-3-1 formation: Their topscorers in the league - both with 2 goals are Nicola Sansone (two penalties) and Rodrigo Palacio. Roberto Soriano, Bani, Riccardo Orsolini, Ladislav Krejci have all chipped in with a goal each, of which they also have an own-goal by Stefano Sabelli on their only away win to date this season, as the team recorded a tense 4-3 win at Brescia's Stadio Rigamonti on 15 September. To prepare for the match against the Italian champions, Bologna played a friendly game against the Slovenian side, Olympia Ljubljana last Saturday during the international break, drawing 2-2, with goals by Palacio and Andrea Poli.
There are six players in the squad who have taken the field in all 7 Matchdays days so far, only two, however, have played every minute - Polish goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski and defender Tomiyasu.
The characteristics of Mihajlović's team
All the teams coached by the Serbian coach have always tried to translate Mihajlović's spirit and determination into their way of playing.
The trend of the first few days of the championship seem to have shown that the Rossoblu shouldn't be in for as difficult a campaign as last year, when on Matchday 22 Bologna were in third-last position in the table. However, the arrival of Mihajlović in place of Filippo Inzaghi provided the imputus for the team to turnaround their fortunes and guarantee their survival.
The Serbian technician, who used several formations in his career, seems settled on 4-2-3-1 since the end of last season, with Poli and Medel holding the fort in front of the defence, with Sansone, Soriano and Orsolini all supporting the lone striker.
It's a Bologna team that builds a lot going forward, but tend to stand-off the opponent's possession, which leaves Mihajlović's teams often at risk, leaving their opponents with space.
A huge amount of the team's attacking play takes place on the wings, as shown by 100 crosses carried out so far, with a total of 26 chances created.
