Frosinone’s place among the early pacesetters is the striking image of this Serie A opening, but the work behind it has been building for longer than five rounds. Massimiliano Alvini’s side are level with Juventus and Como, three points clear of Napoli and four ahead of Atalanta, carrying their momentum from promotion into a far more demanding division.
The surprise lies in the league table rather than in the character of the team. Frosinone earned promotion from Serie B against expectations, overcoming clubs that had committed considerably more in the transfer market. Their advantage was not experience or established names, but an energetic young group playing football with pace, intensity and a willingness to take risks.
That identity has survived the move up. The win over Como underlined not only Frosinone’s quality but also their physical condition: Alvini’s players continued to run with an urgency that has become central to their season. In Serie B, that organisation helped bridge a gap against rivals with players regarded as stars at that level. In Serie A, it is giving the Giallazzurri a platform to compete with clubs accustomed to very different expectations.
Goals everywhere, but no scoreless draws
The first five matchdays have also produced an unusual statistical detail: 50 matches have been played without a single 0-0 draw. At the same stage last season, every one of the opening five rounds had included a goalless game; only the tenth round failed to produce one.
For modern audiences, the absence of 0-0s may appear a straightforward positive. Goals provide the moments that shape a Sunday afternoon and drive the emotion of a championship. Yet the trend is also a reminder that scoring often begins with an opponent’s mistake.
Annibale Frossi, the former Inter and Italy winger, took a famously different view. Olympic champion and leading scorer at the 1936 Berlin Games, and one of the earliest footballers to play in glasses, Frossi later became a respected football writer. He argued that 0-0 was the ideal result because it meant neither defence had erred.
It was a provocative idea, especially for a sport that celebrates attacking play, but it retained an important truth: a disciplined and well-organised defensive performance can have its own value. This season’s opening weeks have offered almost none of those scoreless stalemates.
De Zerbi faces a different kind of pressure in London
Roberto De Zerbi’s Tottenham are experiencing the harsher side of a league table. The London club remain bottom alongside Fulham, who have the better goal difference, after taking two points from five matches. They have scored only twice, both late in the defeat to Aston Villa after conceding three.
Tottenham have not always played poorly and have created chances without converting them, but the wider context is increasingly difficult. The club spent around €350 million in the market, leaving little room for patience when the team is at the foot of the standings.
De Zerbi had joked after consecutive 0-0 draws before the Aston Villa match: “In Italy, they would have applauded me for those results.” The line carried an obvious reference to differing football cultures, but the basic reality is familiar in every country. A coach whose team has heavy investment behind it and remains near the bottom will eventually face scrutiny.
Tottenham still have time to change their course, and their performances suggest there is something to build upon. But the margin is narrowing. While Frosinone are showing how collective conviction can outweigh the assumptions made before a season, De Zerbi’s side are learning how quickly investment turns into expectation once the results stop arriving.
