Only two points for Torino from their opening four matches...

In the summer transfer window, apart from the usually big-spending Inter and, to a lesser extent, Milan and Roma, Torino were one of the few Serie A clubs with the financial muscle to sign some established players.

The arrival of Christian Abbiati, Stefano Fiore and Simone Barone, among others, was supposed to herald a new beginning for a club which in recent years had become one of Italy's most inconsistent teams.

But it turned out to be a chaotic summer for Torino as only days before the start of the Serie A, coach Gianni De Biasi was shown the backdoor following his team's early exit from the Coppa Italia and a number of defeats in friendlies.

Club boss Urbano Cairo claimed that De Biasi no longer deserved to coach Torino, particularly after the acquisition of a number of big-name players. According to Cairo, who built the new Torino following the demise of the 'old' one due to a financial collapse just over a year ago, his team required a coach with more charisma and experience to lead them.

However, if Torino's Serie A results so far are anything to go by, Alberto Zaccheroni has quite an arduous task to transform the Granata into a winning team.

A slow-burning 1-1 home draw with Parma made for a disappointing start. Back-to-back defeats against Udinese and Siena at home followed. Last Sunday, Torino had to come back from a goal down to salvage a draw against fellow strugglers Reggina.

At least, Zaccheroni's players showed signs of improvement on Sunday, especially in the middle where Torino's three central players gave the team more balance.

In his aftermatch comments, the former Udinese and Milan coach was quick to point out that his players needed at least two to three more games to understand his philosophy better.

Moreover, one has to bear in mind that Torino had no less than seven new players in the starting line-up against Reggina. Only Roberto Stellone, Fabio Gallo, Jacopo Balestri and Alessandro Rosina had contributed to Torino's promotion from Serie B last season.

In previous games, the number of newcomers in Torino's first XI was even higher. This complicates Zaccheroni's work in no small measure because the higher the number of new players in the team, the longer they take to start functioning as a unit.

Cairo is aware of this problem and has so far backed his new coach who signed a two-year contract with Torino.

At the moment, Torino have a resourceful squad consisting of no fewer than 29 players... too much for a team not competing in European club competitions and already eliminated from the Italian Cup.

Zaccheroni has relied on 14 to 16 players so far. Only those who perform will retain their places in the team. The others are on the fringes of the squad but they still have some time at their disposal, from now till the start of the January transfer window, to prove Zaccheroni wrong.

Torino's main weakness so far has been their blunt attack. Last season, Torino also had problems scoring goals. Suffice to say that they managed only 58 goals in 46 Serie B outings, including the promotion play-offs.

Italy U-21 schemer Rosina was Torino's most prolific striker with 12 goals (five from penalties). Current strikers Roberto Muzzi and Stellone notched only eight and seven goals respectively.

Nonetheless, Torino have enough quality to play good football and climb out of the relegation zone. For the first time in several years, Torino seem to have everything in place (bar a lethal striker) to have a good season in Italy's top flight - they have a wealthy president willing to fork out the money to build a strong team and a top-notch coach with a competitive squad at his disposal. Zaccheroni needs time to mould a winning side but is Cairo prepared to wait?

Serie A statistics

1ST defeat for Palermo after three consecutive wins. On Sunday, the Sicilians lost 2-0 to Empoli. With 11 goals to their credit, Palermo are the most prolific team but they also possess the worst defensive record with nine goals against. Against Livorno, Champions League hopefuls Milan found the going tough and could not go beyond a goalless draw. Although the Rossoneri created a number of scoring chances, they failed to break down Livorno's tight defence. Prior to Saturday's colourless draw at the Armando Picchi Stadium, the most recent draw between these two sides dated back to October 1947 (1-1). Having conceded only one goal in four league outings this season, Milan have the best defensive record in the Serie A.

2ND win on the trot for Delio Rossi's Lazio who had to sweat to earn a 1-0 home victory against in-form Atalanta. Defender Sebastiano Siviglia struck Lazio's winner midway through the second half. For the record, Atalanta's latest win in 40 visits to the Olympic Stadium took place on October 18, 1997 (2-0). Champions Inter leapfrogged Palermo in first place as they edged Chievo by the odd goal in seven. The Nerazzurri were already 4-0 up by the 71st minute, only to let in three Chievo goals in the space of 11 minutes. Almost five years have now passed since Chievo obtained their first win six league visits to Inter's Giuseppe Meazza Stadium.

3RD defeat for crisis-hit Fiorentina as the Viola went down to back-to-form Udinese and remain anchored to the bottom of the standings with a massive -16 points handicap. Vincenzo Iaquinta scored the winner for Udinese. Fiorentina have not beaten Udinese at the Friuli Stadium since October 28, 2001 (2-1). Torino came back from a goal down to break their jinx in Reggio Calabria, where they had always lost in their only two previous visits there. For Alberto Zaccheroni's side this was their second draw of the term.

4 goals were shared between Catania and Messina in arguably the most entertaining game of the weekend. Messina went into Saturday's game with a truly dire record at the Antonio Massimino Stadium, having lost on their two previous visits. Against the run of play, Messina took the lead only for Catania to hit back with two goals in three second-half minutes. Shortly after the hosts' second goal, Messina equalised to come out of Catania unbeaten for the first time ever. Sampdoria persisted with their winless run as they could only share the spoils against Ascoli. The Blucerchiati have last beaten Ascoli in their Del Duca Stadium on February 23, 1992 (1-0 in Serie A).

5 players, namely Giulio Falcone (Sampdoria), Giuseppe Mascara (Catania), Mark Iuliano (Messina), Roberto Guana (Palermo) and Daniele Portanova (Siena), received marching orders. Meanwhile, referees ordered two penalties. Chievo's comeback against Inter started thanks to a Sergio Pellissier penalty in the 78th minute. The same cannot be said for Palermo, whose regular penalty taker, Eugenio Corini, was on the subs' bench. Franco Brienza stepped up to take the penalty but shot wide. Six teams - Torino, Chievo, Parma, Sampdoria, Cagliari and Ascoli - are still in search of their first win. Milan, Inter, Messina and Empoli are still undefeated.

7th win for Roma in 17 league visits to Parma's Tardini Stadium. On Sunday, the Giallorossi were in terrific form to record the only away win (4-0) of the day. This was Roma's third win in their last five league visits to Parma. Roma, together with Inter and Siena, are the only top flight sides to have won their two opening away fixtures. The clash between Siena and Cagliari finished 0-0 - the second goalless draw of the day. The result left Cagliari with no wins to show after three league visits to Tuscany - two draws and one defeat.

23 goals were scored on the fourth day: 12 coming from the hosts and the remaining 11 from the visitors. Foreigners contributed with six goals while there were seven first-half nettings. Total number of goals scored so far is 102. Neither own goals nor hat-tricks were registered. Half of last weekend's fixtures were drawn. Inter striker Hernan Crespo grabbed the only brace of the weekend that enabled his side to beat Chievo in a seven-goal thriller at the San Siro Stadium. Two players - Simone Tiribocchi (Chievo) and Sergio Floccari (Messina) - came on as substitutes and found the net. Reggina's Rolando Bianchi still leads the goalscorers' list with four goals. He is closely followed by Crespo, Mario Frick (Siena) and Christian Riganò (Messina) on the three-goal mark.