On Monday, Torino president Urbano Cairo showed the backdoor to coach Gianni De Biasi for the third time since he steered the club back to the top flight in 2006.
Although the Maroons were expected to do well this season, they are currently fourth-from-bottom, level on points with Reggina.
Last weeekend, Torino were outplayed by Fiorentina at the Olympic Stadium as the Viola struck two goals in each half to bring to an end a three-match losing streak on their travels.
Torino looked a disjointed lot and lacked any attacking initiative. They were easy prey to a Fiorentina side who were determined to pick all points as they look to get back in the reckoning for a Champions League berth.
Apart from their 3-0 home win over Lecce on the opening day, Torino never really got going this season. They only managed to pick up nine points from their next 14 fixtures - too little for a team aspiring to stave off relegation let alone a mid-table finish.
These results left club owner Cairo with no other option but to sack De Biasi.
The former Modena coach was in his third stint with the Granata. He led them back to the Serie A in 2005-06 and successfully managed to help them avoid the drop in 2006-07 and 2007-08.
This time, Torino's fate is in the hands of former player Novellino who is making a return to the club after he was replaced by De Biasi last April for the last five games of the season.
The change of coach at Torino could not have come at a more delicate time as they prepare for next Saturday's direct clash with Bologna at the Dall'Ara Stadium.
The Serie A newcomers, now under the charge of ex-Inter and Sampdoria defender Sinisa Mihajlovic, are just one point behind Torino but are coming from five successive draws. Bologna are still undefeated since Mihajlovic took over from Daniele Arrigoni.
Although Bologna have been without a win for a long time, they have been showing consistent signs of improvement.
Novellino's main challenge at this point should be to unite his players.
Last week, De Biasi was quoted as saying that only 70 per cent of his squad were still 'loyal' to him.
Novellino should deploy the team in a way as to get the best out of team captain and talisman Alessandro Rosina and strikers Nicola Amoruso and Rolando Bianchi. Under De Biasi, these three players were dropped several times.
If there are any players within their squad who are capable of leading Torino out of trouble, these three - fit perfectly in the bill.
Torino have two games coming up - vs Bologna (away) and Napoli (home) - before the Christmas recess and they have to get as many points as possible.
Novellino must have a good look at his squad and identify which areas need to be strengthened during the January transfer window.
Torino have a tough challenge on their hands. There is still a long way to go and the players must pull up their socks and work harder if they are to steer the team away from the drop zone.
Serie A statistics
3rd win in a row for Fiorentina in Turin (1-0 in 2006/07, 1-0 in 2007/08 and 4-1 on Sunday) as they interrupted a series of three straight away defeats (vs Siena, Cagliari and Roma) with an emphatic 4-1 victory that put Torino into serious relegation trouble. Torino have last beaten Fiorentina at home on March 24, 2002 (1-0). Fiorentina's third away success of the term coincided with Torino's fourth home setback. All Torino have to show from their last four outings is a 2-2 home draw with Milan. Cagliari pursued with their steady recovery trail thanks to a narrow 1-0 home win over rivals Palermo. This was Cagliari's fifth successive home win (the previous four coming vs Chievo 2-0, Bologna 5-1, Fiorentina 1-0 and Sampdoria 1-0).
4 successive wins (vs Lazio 1-0, Lecce 3-0, Fiorentina 1-0 and Chievo 1-0) propelled Roma back in contention. On Saturday, Jeremy Menez's first goal of the season was enough to see them through as they beat Chievo away for the first time in five years. Juventus left it late to beat Lecce for the fourth consecutive time at the Via del Mare stadium. Juve's second straight win coincided with Lecce's 10th winless game on the trot (six draws and four defeats). In a highly-contested derby, Genoa edged Sampdoria 1-0. A Genoa victory against their neighbours had been missing since March 20, 2000 (1-0 in Serie B).
5th straight defeat for Udinese (vs Inter 0-1, Reggina 0-1, Fiorentina 2-4, Chievo 0-1 and Atalanta 0-3) as the northeasterners were floored by in-form Atalanta in Bergamo. This was Atalanta's fourth positive home result in a row (one draw and three wins over Napoli, Lazio and Udinese). Prior to Sunday, Atalanta's latest home league win over Udinese came on November 17, 1996 (1-0). Napoli bounced back from their disappointing results of late (one point collected from their previous three outings) as they scored twice after the break to beat Siena 2-0 at home. Napoli had last beaten Siena at home seven years ago (2-0 in Serie B).
6 points are separating champions Inter from nearest pursuers Juventus and Milan. Next weekend, Inter host Chievo whereas Juve and Milan clash in Turin. On Saturday, Inter were in a class of their own as they annihilated Lazio 3-0 away. This was Inter's sixth straight win. Almost five years have now elapsed since Lazio's latest home win against Inter (2-1). Milan had to sweat to beat Catania at home on Sunday evening. Since going down to Bologna 1-2 on the opening day of the season, Milan went on to win all their next seven home outings.
24 goals were scored on the 15th day: 11 coming from the hosts and the remaining 13 from the visitors. Foreign players contributed with 11 goals. Total number of goals scored so far is 352. Lazio defender Mobido Diakite committed the only own goal of the day. Fiorentina forward Alberto Gilardino scored a brace to sink crisis-hit Torino as Roma midfielder Matteo Brighi was the only red-carded player on the day. Torino captain Alessandro Rosina converted the only penalty of the weekend. Apart from Rosina, Christian Vieri (Atalanta), Daniele Cacia (Lecce) and German Denis (Napoli) came on as substitutes and scored. Diego Milito, of Genoa, clinched the all-important goal in the derby.
He still leads the scorers' list with 12 goals. Gilardino follows on the 11-goal mark.