After such an outstanding season as the one with Mihajlovic in charge, when they succeeded impressing for the quality and the aggressiveness of their play, Catania were expected to repeat themselves with the new coach Giampaolo. After all, the squad had not changed but for Martinez's departure. It did not take long, though, in order to understand that things would have been different. Catania were definitely more cautious and Maxi Lopez, who had done wonders in the previous season, was far from impressive. However, Catania did seem to keep at some distance from the danger zone. Then, from December on, the situation became tougher. Catania started losing quite constantly and falling down the table. This led to Giampaolo's sacking and to the arrival of Simeone. The new coach adopted a more aggressive attitude that did not seem to be very wise especially at the beginning. In fact, Catania kept losing and falling. Eventually, though, Catania started winning at home despite keeping on losing on the road. Only in May they succeeded winning their first match of the season away from Sicily. And so they achieved the so-much-desired safety. Catania certainly owe their brilliant finale to the aggressive style adopted after Simeone's arrival and to some players who turned out to be decisive once they signed in after Christmas, that is Lodi and Bergessio. Maxi Lopez was certainly the disappointment of the season: he scored only 9 goals while in the previous half-season he had scored eleven. With Giampaolo, he played all alone upfront while he even ended up sitting on the bench with Simeone in charge.
