After getting miserably beaten in my bet on Parma in their game vs. relegated Crotone (3-4), I have completely changed my mind about the team and its prospects in Serie A this season.

First of all, for whatever reason, probably due to already giving up hope on survival, Parma had started the game against Crotone with half of their regulars benched. This approach was followed up by woeful defending and evidently low commitment level from everyone involved. Instead of being a game for life by Parma, as it really would’ve kept them in the survival race, it turned out into a training camp friendly with 0 defending from both sides.

Now the handicap from life-saving 17th position is 11 points with 15 points left to play for, so mathematically Parma is still in contention. In reality, with Torino also having 1 game extra to be played, nothing is saving Parma from Serie B. Not only their chances are close to 0, but tonight’s opposition is too good and prior to the 0-2 defeat against Napoli had a good run of results, including 2-2 draw v Juventus, 3-1 win over Roma or the 1-0 narrow victory against Udinese.

Considering what Parma had shown a week ago, I can’t see a single argument in their favor before tonight’s clash. Draw doesn’t work for visitors either, so they will be forced to take some sort of risk at one point of the game, should it remain level.

The move for Torino on the market has been impressive through the day, which also gives reasons for optimism.