Pontus Jansson starred again for Leeds United this weekend – the same cannot be said for the loaned-out defender in Serie A.
Empoli can consider themselves very fortunate indeed that Palermo, Pescara and Crotone took it upon themselves to render a ‘relegation battle’ pretty much obsolete as early as October.
The Serie A strugglers have managed to lose six of their last seven league games, including a 4-1 battering at doomed Crotone, and still find themselves floating on a comfortable seven point cushion above the stranded bottom three.
In any other season, Empoli would be shoe-ins for the drop. Yet, Giuseppe Bellusci, to the amazement of Leeds United supporters everywhere, looks set for another season in the top tier of Italian football, whether with the Azzurri or another middling, bottom half club.
It’s not been the easiest couple of weeks for the Leeds loanee. He endured the brilliance of Gonzalo Higuain first hand a fortnight ago before getting involved in an altercation with a fan after being booed off in a home defeat to Genoa.
Defensive mistakes and volatile explosions of rage from a man carded 27 times in two seasons in England? Surely not.
And, although Bellusci may not have been given his marching orders, or indeed screamed at a fan, in Empoli’s clash with Chievo on Sunday, his side did conceded four times in another horrific defeat.
The 27-year-old, in his defence, has performed worse this season though that is a complement of the backhanded variety. Without his four interceptions and three clearances, Empoli’s defeat may have been even more humiliating and, according to WhoScored, only embattled goalkeeper Lukas Skorupski performed better.
The bare statistics, however, say that Bellusci’s side were embarrassed again. Just a day after Pontus Jansson excelled as Leeds ground out another clean sheet against QPR.
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