There had been a seismic shift in the fortunes of FC Pompei in the five years that previously unknown Roberto de Vesuvius Sulpicius had been in charge. And the minnows defied all the odds to remain in Italy’s Serie C/C for a second season.
There was plenty of change in the summer as Pompei rented the 1,500-capacity Massimo Romano in Grottaminarda, which is 60 miles northeast of Pompei, for the 2028/29 campaign. That came as the board announced plans to build a new stadium as their current home wasn’t up to Serie C standards.
Pompei also made some significant improvements and reduced their squad age in the summer transfer window. Midfielder Alessandro di Paolantonio retired and winger Antonio Orefice was released along with 10 more backup players, leaving backup left back Jacopo Pesarin the oldest player at 27. In their place came Como striker Mattia Lanzarotti, exciting Atalanta attacker Davide Rapetti, midfielder Andrea Palella and centre back Vincenzo Guerra.
With those signings through the door, Sulpicius again tweaked his tactic to play to their new-found attacking threat. He went with a 4-2-4 approach building around the attack of Matteo Malasomma, Lanzarotti, Guglielmo Mignani and Rapetti.
Signs Of Serie C Improvement
Pompei remain the bookies’ Serie C/C relegation favourites with title odds of 300/1 behind Ostia Mare (50/1) and Campobasso, Taranto, Brindisi and Cerignola (33/1) their likely relegation rivals. Two more former Serie A sides are title favourites in Catania (5/4) and Foggia (2/1) along with Crotone (9/2).
Pompei began their second season in the third tier with their first game in their temporary home. And they started well as Malasomma’s long-range strike and Lanzarotti’s debut goal earned a 2-0 win over Siracusa. The game also saw them smash the club’s record attendance and gate receipts, bringing in three times more than any other game in the last five seasons. Palella’s goal earned a draw at Taranto and Rapetti’s a draw at home to Olbia before a pretty disappointing 2-1 loss at Avellino and an unsurprising 4-2 loss at home to Foggia.
It was a pretty mixed start to the campaign, as confirmed by conceding a 94th-minute equaliser to draw 1-1 at Ostia Mare and Rapetti’s late goal earning a 2-2 at home to Monopoli before a 3-0 loss at Reggio Calabria took them eight games without a win. That forced Sulpicius to scrap the 4-2-4, which was probably a little too adventurous for these players, and drop Malasomma into midfield as a mezzala to create an unconventional-looking 4-3-3 with Rapetti the only wide man.
The new tactic started very nicely as an early Rapetti double inspired a 2-1 win at 10th-place Giugliano, which suddenly had the fickle fans praising Sulipicius’ tactical acumen. They backed that up with a fairly undeserved 2-1 win at home to Latina and Lanzarotti’s strike nicked a 1-1 at Brindisi.
Defeats to the title challengers followed but Mignani ended his 13-hour goal drought with a brace to down Campobasso 2-1. Lanzarotti then snapped a 10-hour drought to defeat struggling Turris 1-0 and scored a brace in a wild 3-3 at Picerno. And that left Pompei looking relatively comfortable sitting in 11th place, 9 points clear of the relegation places and, being a little ambitious, just 4 points off the promotion playoffs – but last season’s collapse remained fresh in Sulpicius’ mind.
Avoiding Relegation Concerns
Pompei began the new year with their biggest hammering in a while, losing 6-2 at a strong Foggia side. But a Lanzarotti double earned a 3-1 win over Ostia Mare to move them 10 points clear of the dropzone in early February. Then arguably their best result yet in Serie C saw Lanzarotti’s goal earn a point at home to Reggio Calabria.
Another tricky spell followed against teams at the top of the table, including a 4-0 thumping at home to Pippo Inzaghi’s leaders Catania. But a seven-game winless streak was snapped by midfielder Michele Grande and Mignani’s goals earning a crucial 2-0 success at 15th-place Campobasso, which virtually secured survival with Pompei sitting 12 points clear of danger going into the final six games.
That gave them the confidence to claim their biggest win yet – a 2-0 victory at home to 4th-place Cavese through Mignani and Malasomma, who was gradually growing into his new role – before Lanzarotti’s goal edged a point at 10th-place Matera. And they confirmed survival and surpassed last season’s finish as Lanzarotti hit a brilliant hat trick to defeat bottom side Cerignola.
Pompei’s strong finish continued as they won 3-1 at Turris before losing 2-0 at home to Picerno. That wrapped up an impressive 12th-place finish with 46 points, 8 more than last season, after 11 wins, 13 draws and 14 defeats, scoring 48 and conceding 59.
They obviously didn’t have any of the top performers, although Lanzarotti was the joint fourth-top scorer with 20. And left back Aboudramane Diaby recorded a league-high 3.71 tackles per 90 minutes. Pompei also had Serie C/C’s lowest average possession (40%), completed by far the fewest passes (12,515), had the second-fewest shots (263) and the worst set-piece record with just one goal scored from corners and 2 from free kicks. But on a positive note, they had the fifth-best shots on target ratio (42%) and second-best conversion rate (18%). But to out that context, Pompei have the league’s lowest annual salary of £558k, which is dwarfed by Foggia’s £3.79m, Catania’s £3.34m, Crotone’s £2.74m and even next-lowest spenders Brindisi’s £1.11m.
Another Season Of Overachievement
Lanzarotti proved an excellent signing as he led the way with 20 goals in 38 games followed by Mignani (9) and Rapetti (7), who were the only players to score more than three goals. Diaby was a surprise performer with a club-high 10 assists followed by Rapetti (8) and Malasomma and Grande (4). But Pompei were again reliant on goalkeeper Damiano Campisi who, despite only being considered a Serie D player, got a club-high 7.02 average rating and was often their saviour.
Pompei’s worrying financial situation seemed to be easing slightly and Sulpicius was hoping for a good summer to take his side to the next level next season. And, in his mind at least, he had the target of reaching the baffling-looking Serie C playoffs for the first time.
Could Sulpicius rebuild the squad for a season of more improvement? Join us next Friday to find out!
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