Parma vs Genoa: A Clash of Strugglers in Serie A
Two of Serie A’s strugglers meet at Ennio Tardini on Sunday, and it already feels like a game that will shape their autumn. Parma against Genoa: five games into the 2026-27 season, neither has tasted a league victory. Something has to give. Or perhaps, ominously, it doesn’t.
Two teams stuck in neutral
Parma arrive with a record that looks bleak on paper but carries a hint of life beneath the surface. Carlos Cuesta’s side have not won since mid-August, when a 2-0 Coppa Italia success over Catania briefly suggested a smoother campaign ahead. Since then: four defeats in five across all competitions, and an attack that keeps misfiring when it matters most.
The drought has been particularly brutal in Serie A. Cagliari edged them 1-0. Juventus handled them 2-0. Cremonese then dumped them out of the cup by the same scoreline at the start of September. Three games, no goals, and a growing sense of tension around the club.
Then, a flicker. A 1-1 draw with Monza on matchday four finally put a point on the board. That was followed by a spirited, if painful, 2-1 defeat away to Champions League debutants Como on Monday night. The results column still looks unforgiving, but the performances have at least stopped the slide from feeling terminal.
Parma now chase not just their first league win of the season, but a psychological hurdle: they have not beaten Genoa in three years and are winless in their last four against the Ligurians. For a team desperate for a landmark moment, the opponent carries its own weight.
De Rossi under early strain
On the opposite bench, Daniele De Rossi cuts a familiar figure: a World Cup winner now wrestling with the unforgiving reality of top-flight management. His Genoa side arrive with a midweek boost after knocking out Sudtirol in the cup, but that success only partly masks a troubling league run.
De Rossi’s Serie A record has hit a wall. Genoa are nine league games without a win under the Roma icon, stretching back to last season. Their last top-flight victory came against Pisa, a side now relegated. Since that 2-1 triumph, the Grifone have collected six defeats and three draws, a run that has dragged them down to second-bottom after four matches of this campaign.
The table offers a sliver of hope. A win in Emilia-Romagna could lift Genoa as high as 13th, depending on other results. The problem is obvious: they have not yet shown the balance required to pull it off.
No team in Serie A has scored fewer goals than Genoa’s two, a number that matches Parma’s tally and underlines the attacking poverty on show this weekend. At the back, the Rossoblù have conceded eight times, the fifth-worst record in the division, behind only Venezia, Monza and Fiorentina (all on 11) and Udinese (10). Soft in both boxes, they have been living on the margins.
Their one crumb of comfort is timing. Genoa finally recorded their first clean sheet of the season in all competitions in midweek. Now comes the real test: can that defensive platform survive the different tempo and pressure of Serie A?
Parma’s thin margin for error
Cuesta’s selection problems are light but significant. Hans Nicolussi Caviglia misses out with a groin issue, the coach’s only confirmed absentee. That small mercy is offset by the reality of what Parma have lost since last season.
Mateo Pellegrino, their nine-goal forward and a rare reliable finisher, now wears Fiorentina colours. Without him, Parma’s threat has shrunk dramatically. After four league gameweeks, only Simone Lontani and David Romero have found the net. Two scorers, two goals, and a team that often reaches the final third only to run out of ideas.
Cuesta is expected to stick with his core structure. Corvi should start in goal, shielded by a back three of Delprato, Troilo and Carlos. Across midfield, Britschgi, Bernabe, Keita and Valeri offer legs and technique but must start adding end product. Ahead of them, Toure supports the front pair of Lontani and Romero, the two men who have at least shown they can finish a chance.
For Parma, this is not just about tactics. It is about belief. They have shown flashes against Monza and Como; now they must turn those into something tangible.
Genoa’s discipline problem
Genoa’s issues are more scattered. They do not lack names or structure, but availability has become a problem at the worst possible time.
Johan Vasquez, scorer against Frosinone and the match-winner against Sudtirol in midweek, is suspended after his dismissal last weekend. His absence removes both a goal threat and a combative presence, leaving De Rossi with one fewer player capable of dragging the team up the pitch.
Injury has further chipped away at his options. Elias Havel (ankle) and Lorenzo Venturino (knee) are also out, trimming the coach’s room to manoeuvre in key areas.
That throws more responsibility on Milutin Osmajic, the only other Genoa player to have scored this season. His solitary goal came in a bruising 4-1 defeat to Como in early September, a reminder that even when he finds the net, the team around him can crumble.
Genoa are expected to line up with Bijlow in goal and a back three of Marcandalli, Ostigard and Otoa. Ehizibue and Ellertsson should patrol the flanks, with Frendrup and Sow battling in central midfield. Baldanzi is likely to operate between the lines, tasked with linking play to the front two of Osmajic and Colombo.
On paper, there is enough talent to trouble a shaky Parma. On the pitch, Genoa must prove they can sustain intensity for 90 minutes, not just in cup ties against lower-ranked opponents.
A stalemate in the making?
All signs point to a tight, anxious afternoon. Both teams are short on confidence, short on goals and painfully aware of the cost of another defeat. The last two meetings between these sides ended goalless, and the patterns of this season suggest a similar script.
With Parma still searching for a post-Pellegrino identity in attack and Genoa blunt without Vasquez, a cagey game feels almost inevitable. Chances may be rare, risk even rarer.
Prediction: Parma 0-0 Genoa.
If that plays out, both clubs will trudge away from Ennio Tardini still winless, still searching, and still wondering how long a season can feel when the first victory refuses to arrive.
