On the surface, a 9th place finish is an improvement for Torino after they finished 12th in Giampiero Ventura's final season in charge. However, Sinisa Mihajlovic's maiden campaign is tinged with feelings of disappointment. Two seasons ago, Ventura was able to get the club into Europe and that was with a much more modest group of players than the one that Mihajlovic acquired in the summer. Indeed, many big names were brought into the club including the loan coup of England's number one goalkeeper, Joe Hart. However it was he who was part of the biggest problem that the Granata faced this season and that was conceding far too many goals. It was an issue in Ventura's final campaign and it is one which Mihajlovic has clearly failed to address as only the bottom two in the league and Cagliari leaked more goals than Toro. Leandro Castan was brought in to bring some quality to the defence but he didn't play enough games due to his ongoing injury problems whilst Hart himself offered up some erratic performances between the sticks, making far too many howlers throughout the season. However, there little issue at the other end of the pitch as Andrea Belotti is now one of the hottest properties in world football after banging in 26 league goals and he was supported well by the likes of Adem Ljajic, Iago Falque and Daniele Baselli. Torino could never be accused of being dull as games involving them produced the most goals this season. However, a poor period at the turn of the year put paid to any realistic chances of qualifying for Europe and they just drew too many games overall - the most in the league at 14. They have a talented enough squad to build on this for next season but it remains to be seen how many of their star players they can keep.
