The summer brought a surprising move for Chievo as former player and the man who'd led the team to a 12th place finish in the 2012/13 season, Eugenio Corini, had left the club by mutual consent. The board appointed Giuseppe Sannino as their new manager and there was some optimism given the fine work he'd produced at Siena. He started well enough with a very respectable opening day draw at Parma but the wheels soon started to fall off. Chievo ended up losing eight of their opening ten league fixtures and looked like prime candidates for relegation. The issue seemed to be that Sannino was trying too hard to put his own imprint on a side that had functioned well as it was. The club managed to keep most of the core of the team from last season but Sannino tinkered with it, switching to what looks a dated 4-4-2 system. Chievo were always known as a very miserly team at both ends of the pitch but, under Sannino, they were shipping more goals whilst still not scoring enough and that's a recipe for disaster. It wasn't long before Sannino was relieved of his duties and the board called on Corini again. The prodigal son returned and he produced immediate endeared himself to the fans again with a win in the Verona Derby in his first match back. That was one of four straight victories and the Flying Donkeys conceded just once in that sequence. Corini switched back to the 3-5-2 system that had worked so well last season - often it was basically a 5-3-2 as Chievo became hard to beat again instead of trying to be expansive. They say if it ain't broke, don't fix it and Chievo were able to go back to what they knew how to do best. This team always seems to have a knack of picking up a result just when they need it to steer clear of trouble. Despite a poor run of defeats in March and April, the Flying Donkeys were still able to produce two big performances to beat relegation rivals Livorno and Bologna - who both went down instead. Alberto Paloschi scored five goals in those two matches and that showed what a big game player he was for the club this season. It's difficult to have seen Chievo surviving without his goals.
