That Bari were not going to confirm all the good done in the previous season, it was clear enough at the beginning of the season, when Ventura had to deal with a squad depleted by the departures of Bonucci and Ranocchia during the transfer campaign. In fact, just until the end of September, Bari offered some positive performances and obtained some outstanding results, such as the home win against Juventus. From October, things started falling apart and the team stopped existing. First of all, some of the key players, in particular the striker Barreto, ended up being seriously injured. Then, the team stopped playing as spectacularly and offensively as it used to and it became clear week after week that a one-way ticket for the Serie B was waiting for Bari. With the passing of time, even coach Ventura lost the favour of the supporters and he ended up being replaced by Mutti in mid-February. Meanwhile, the situation had become more than desperate. The absences due to injuries had become uncountable. And the gap from the safe zone was extremely wide. Despite that, Bari started improving and they succeeded displaying more grit than in the previous months. They never came close to reaching safety but, at least, they succeeded giving a hard time to their opponents, such as Milan, who risked losing at home. With only 27 goals scored, Bari had by far the worst attack of the whole Serie A while their defence, with 56 goals conceded, was only better than Lecce's and Palermo's. A disastrous season that ended up with some hope: the explosion of Grandolfo, who scored a hat-trick against Bologna in the last, useless, match.
