Torino have fired Marco Giampaolo and hired Davide Nicola, the club announced between Monday and Tuesday. The Granata currently sit in 18th position in the standings, tied with Parma, with just 13 points after 18 games.
They have won once in the last 12 rounds and, even though they have gotten few ties lately, versus Bologna, Napoli and Verona, the management has decided to pull the plug on the experiment. The final straw was a nil-nil draw with Spezia, where they played for 80 minutes with a one-man advantage but could not score.
Nicola has agreed to a six-month contract with an optional second season in case he successfully avoids relegation. He managed to do that at Genoa in the past campaign after taking over in December, collecting eight wins, four draws and nine losses in 21 tilts, but he was not retained by the Rossoblù. He previously coached at Udinese and Crotone in the top league.
Our view
Giampaolo was an ambitious and expensive hire as he was coming off a failed stint at Milan, but his Sampdoria played pretty well and Torino were looking for something different. However, the roster did not really fit his style and ultimately seemed to reject his ideas, as the gaffer had to switch from his beloved 4-3-1-2 to 3-5-2, which he had never used before, to try to salvage the situation and give the squad more certainties to lean on. Nicola is a more traditional choice for the lower positions of the standing and his gritty approach should be useful, but they surely are in a precarious spot.