Livorno's return to Serie A proved to be rather disastrous both on and off the pitch. It was always going to be an uphill task to keep this modest squad in the top flight but the season started in promising fashion as Livorno went on a four game unbeaten run after losing their opening day fixture to Roma. There was a sense that there might just be enough about this team to stay out of trouble. However, the cracks soon began to appear for Davide Nicola and his men. Livorno lost twelve of their next fifteen matches leading the board to get rid of the man that had brought them up through the play-offs. They replaced him with a man with much more Serie A experience in Domenico Di Carlo and he was able to pick up some decent results in his first couple of months in charge but, once again, the wheels started to fall off. Nicola was recalled for the run-in but, by that time, the damage had already been done. Livorno's main issue was their defensive record as they conceded a total of 77 goals which is an average of over two goals conceded per game - the worst in the league. If not for the goals scored by Paulinho, they probably would have had their fate sealed a lot sooner. The Brazilian had an excellent debut season in Serie A with 15 goals and will surely be snapped up by a bigger club in the summer. His heroics weren't enough to prevent Livorno from finishing rock bottom of the table though and they'll have to rebuild smartly if they want to return to the top flight.
