Brescia returned to the top flight as Serie B champions with much fanfare and expectation but their season was little more than a mitigated disaster.
Eugenio Corini started in the dugout and couldn't have got off to a much better start with an away win at Cagliari. In fact, Brescia won 2 of their first 4 league games but that was to be about as good as it got. Le Rondinelle picked up just 1 point from their next 6 matches and Corini was given his marching orders.
The club hoped for that "new manager bounce" when they appointed Fabio Gross but things just got even worse. The former World Cup winner last a paltry 3 games where his side conceded 10 goals and scored none.
Corini was re-hired in December and gave the fans some hope with back-to-back league wins and clean sheets but Brescia again fell off a cliff. Just 2 points from their next 7 league games and Corini was forced to pack his bags for a second time.
Diego Lopez was Brescia's third and final manager of a turbulent season but he could do very little to arrest the slide. Not even the Coronavirus lockdown break could do much to revitalise a side that looked destined for the drop. The Uruguayan manager conjured up just 2 wins from 16 league games (D4 L10) and the inevitable was confirmed before the end of the season.
Lopez wasn't retained and yet another new manager has been hired in the form of Luigi Delneri. Brescia fans will hope he can bring some stability in Serie B at the least.
It is unlikely that the club are going to be able to keep hold of Sandro Tonali. A teenager for most of the campaign, he tallied 6 assists - the youngest player to do that in any of Europe's top five leagues. He is currently being linked to a host of big clubs. Whilst Mario Balotelli was the big marquee signing, he remains a total enigma both on and off the field. He failed to inspire his boyhood club. Instead it was the less heralded Alfredo Donnarumma and Ernesto Torregrossa who carried the can up front, each scoring 7 league goals. The less said about a defence which conceded 79 goals, the better. Brescia had the worst backline in Serie A and coupled with a lack of goals at the other end, it was always going to end in tears.
