Stroppa's grip on Venezia loosens as Zanetti and Nicola wait
A 3-1 defeat to Atalanta has left Venezia without a win in six Serie A games, and Giovanni Stroppa now faces a decision he admits is not his to make.
Giovanni Stroppa's hold on the Venezia job has thinned to almost nothing after a 3-1 defeat to Atalanta left his side without a point from their last six Serie A matches, Football Italia reports, with Paolo Zanetti and Davide Nicola already being floated as possible replacements.
Six games without a win would unsettle most Serie A clubs, but it is the shape of Monday's defeat, rather than the run of results alone, that illustrates why Venezia's hierarchy may already be looking elsewhere.
Venezia were 2-0 down inside six minutes and 3-1 behind by half-time, a collapse that points to a side still struggling to control the opening exchanges of matches against stronger opposition.
Conceding twice in the opening six minutes against a team as vertically aggressive as Atalanta usually means a defensive structure that has not settled, or a team still too open in transition before it has found its rhythm. Either explanation sits uncomfortably with a promoted side that needs its first half-hours to be its most disciplined, not its most fragile.
The response after the break tells a different story. Venezia hit the woodwork twice and had a goal disallowed for offside, evidence of a team capable of creating real chances even against one of Serie A's stronger sides.
That contrast, between a porous start and a productive finish, is the kind of pattern that can divide a boardroom. Some will see underlying quality worth protecting; others will see a coach whose team only competes once the game is already lost, which is a much harder case to defend when points, not process, decide a manager's future.
Stroppa himself leaned on that distinction when he spoke to DAZN after the game. "Trust? You shouldn't ask me," he said. "The results are penalising us. I work for what I can give the team, and they look very lively to me. We're getting important players back. I think I've done my job to the best of my ability, and I take full responsibility. I see how the team works, and it deserves much more."
The phrasing is revealing in itself. A coach who opens by saying the question of trust is not his to answer is effectively acknowledging that the decision has already moved above him, even while defending the substance of his work.
Two very different replacements are being weighed
Zanetti and Nicola represent contrasting diagnoses of what Venezia actually needs. Zanetti already has a history at the club, having led Venezia to promotion in 2021, and Sportitalia reports that a member of his staff was present in the stands for the Atalanta game. Nicola, by contrast, has built his reputation on dragging sides out of relegation trouble, and has been linked with the post by Tuttomercatoweb.
Bringing back Zanetti would be a continuity appointment, a return to a coach who understands the club's identity and has already delivered one promotion there. Nicola would be the opposite signal: an emergency hire, brought in specifically because a board believes the problem is now about survival instincts rather than long-term project-building. Which name gains traction says as much about how Venezia's hierarchy assesses its own situation as it does about either coach.
Stroppa's farewell tone, even without a farewell
In his press conference, Stroppa did not fight the possibility of dismissal so much as prepare for it. "Regardless of what the decision is, I thank the club for their trust," he said. "Clearly decisions have to be made, but I'm convinced this team can pick itself up through daily work. I can sense positivity in the lads, and we have to keep going."
That is the language of a coach who has already made peace with the outcome while still asking to be judged on performances rather than the table. It is a common posture for managers under pressure, but it rarely buys more than one further match.
Napoli as the deadline that matters
FirenzeViola's reporting suggests Venezia could yet give Stroppa one more game, against Napoli, before any change is made. That fixture now carries weight well beyond three points: a result against a side of Napoli's standing would hand Stroppa his strongest available argument, while anything resembling Monday's opening six minutes would likely end the conversation altogether.
Venezia remain without a win after six rounds, and the club's silence on Stroppa's status leaves Zanetti and Nicola circling a job that, for now, is still his to lose.