The 10 Serie A players to crash the last six months

Martin Macdonald

24 Feb 2022 11:35 CST
3 min read

Elseid Hysaj has declined as a player more than any other player in Serie A over the last six months, according to SciSports.

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Using in-game data to calculate the performance of every player in the league, the Lazio left-back has statistically enjoyed the sharpest fall in his personal level.

Hysaj is a new signing at Lazio, having joined from league rivals Napoli in the summer. However, he has not impressed in his new surroundings.

Pepe Reina has been the worst goalkeeper in Serie A this season, making a string of disastrous errors.

The most noteworthy was in the home defeat to Juventus, where he inexplicably conceded a penalty, while he has conceded 29 goals in 15 starts this campaign.

Nikola Maksimovic has been part of an awful overall Genoa side that have won just one fixture this season.

Roman Freuler, a bit like Atalanta as a whole, has allowed his performances to regress over the last six months.

Emil Audero lost his place in the Sampdoria team to Wladimiro Falcone, who has been one of the revelations of the Serie A campaign. His lack of importance and minutes for Samp has contributed to his declining rating.

Stefan Radu has only made six appearances for Lazio this season, significantly less than the 31 he managed last season, which highlights his declining importance.

Nicola Sansone has failed to find the back of the net this season, and has had issues off the pitch with regards to his vaccination status, accusing Serie A of forcing him to get jabbed.

Roberto Pereyra, Kevin Malcuit and Rafael Toloi round out the top, or bottom, 10.

Serie A's declining players

Player	Club	SCISKILL DECLINE
1. Elseid Hysaj	Lazio	-7.5
2. Pepe Reina	Lazio	-6.7
3. Nikola Maksimovic	Genoa	-6.5
4. Remo Freuler	Atalanta	-6.2
5. Emil Audero	Sampdoria	-6.1
6. Stefan Radu	Lazio	-5.9
7. Nicola Sansone	Bologna	-5.7
8. Roberto Pereyra	Udinese	-5.6
9. Kevin Malcuit	Napoli	-5.2
10. Rafael Toloi	Atalanta	-5.2

How is the SciSkill ranking calculated?

Over the course of a season in Serie A, there are players who will enjoy increasingly poor performances and increasingly positive performances.

FootballTransfers, in partnership with SciSports, has determined 10 players over the last six months within Serie A whose performances have declined to a higher degree than anyone else.

SciSports explains how our development ratings are gathered:

"Among others, a positive development could be boosted by more playing time, playing time on a higher level or better performances on the pitch.

"A negative development could be due to the player being active on a lower level than he used to play, bad performances or the fact that he does not play that often as he used to do.

"A SciSkill Development of 0.0 could indicate that a player is performing exactly like our algorithm expects him to do. Another reason could be inactivity (e.g. a long-term injury or suspension)."